How to Become a Trainer: Across the Distortion World
by ReptileGirl497
Summary: Finally, Hiccup and Astrid are married and starting a new life together. But a new, multidimensional threat could destroy everything that Team Go-Getters know and love.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Drageist

 **Me: I've been waiting a long time to write this!**

 **Snivels: I've been waiting a long time to live it!**

 **Blaze: I'll believe that.**

 **Ninjark: I just want to learn a little more about our new friends from Alola.**

 **Crackers: Me, too. They seem like such nice Pokémon.**

 **Amber: You're not the only one who thinks so. I like how Buddy saved Hiccup from the Outcasts.**

 **Snivels: Hppefully he'll get his chance to shine, soon.**

 **Me: Guys, there'll be a whole slew of new friends for us later on, you know.**

 **Snivels: Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get to it!**

* * *

Hiccup, Snivels, Astrid, Blaze, Heather and Ninjark were all chained together with thick titanium restraints. Several mean-looking soldiers dressed in impenetrable armor were leading them across a bridge towards a small cliff island in the middle of a lava pit. In a large cage on the island was a rather ugly-looking monster that walked on two legs and had large, powerful arms and a face only a mother could love.

One of the soldiers on the cliff island poked the Rancor with a long metal stick between the bars of the heavy-duty cage. The Rancor roared angrily, banging against the metal bars of its cage in an effort to get at what had dared to poke it in the rear with a sharp stick. It was hungry, too, and it had its eye on the six prisoners being led to it for lunchtime.

Snivels gulped nervously. "Honestly, guys, I'm having a hard time putting a positive spin on this. One minute you're having the best day ever, the next you're being fed to a monster the size of a Boneknapper."

Hiccup frowned. "Yeah, well, welcome to my life."

The Rancor roared again, making everyone flinch.

Snivels sighed. "And to think, everything started out so well this morning."

* * *

 _ **Earlier That Day**_

It was the morning after Hiccup and Astrid's wedding, and the Pokémon Go-Getters were all sitting at the large table in the Ice Caves Celebration Hall. The whole length of the table was decorated with an assortment of exotic breakfast foods, from pancakes and waffles to malasadas.

But Snivels wasn't as interested in the food as the others. He was busy doing some rather confusing calculations in one of Hiccup's spare sketchbooks.

"Let's see, the probability of X or Y, considering all possible levels of intimacy, times the square root of Hiccup..."

"Will you at least take a break and come eat?" Blaze asked, annoyed with all the talking her Servine friend had been doing while working on the calculations.

Snivels put the charcoal pencil down. "Are there any malasadas left?"

Amber nodded and passed over a bowl full of the fried balls of dough. "More than enough for everyone. But I saved you a bowl, just in case."

Snivels smiled at his mate and took a large bite out of a malasada. "Best thing I've ever eaten since I found out about chocolate."

The Servine prince then noticed Crackers sitting on the other side of Amber. The young Sobble's face was planted in an empty bowl, and he was snoring a little. Amber cautiously reached out and poked Crackers gently. The little Sobble shot up.

"I didn't do it!"

Amber looked concerned. "Didn't do what, Crackers?"

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Crackers answered, "I didn't get a lot of sleep last night."

Snivels looked confused. "How did you not get enough sleep? The beds can't be that uncomfortable."

Crackers shook his head, "No, they were very nice. You see, the thing is..."

She was interrupted by the arrival of everyone's favorite newlyweds, and their raven-haired friend. "What's going on?" Hiccup asked as he sat down next to where Crackers was trying to keep his eyes open.

"That's what we're trying to figure out," Snivels replied. "Crackers, what were you...?"

The little Sobble had fallen asleep again, this time while sitting straight up on the table. Amber reached out and poked him again. "Crackers!"

Crackers woke up instantly, looking around frantically. "Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?

"You were about to tell us why you didn't get enough sleep last night," Snivels gently reminded him.

Crackers gulped nervously before finally giving them his answer.

"I heard a noise."

Now Hiccup was confused. "What kind of noise?"

Crackers shrugged. "I'm not sure, but I think it was a bump. I heard it coming from your room, but I didn't want to disturb anyone because you were all sleeping. I just sat in the dark and tried to fall asleep, but I was afraid whatever made the noise would come out somewhere."

Astrid had been listening in from her seat beside her new husband, and had a pretty good idea what Crackers had heard the previous night. "It was us, we knocked over a lantern."

Crackers looked very confused. "Why would you knock over a lantern?"

Now Astrid was annoyed. "Because we were..."

Hiccup quickly jumped in before Astrid could finish. "They don't need to know what we were doing!"

Snivels looked confused for a minute before his eyes lit up with realization. "Oh!" Then he looked mildly disgusted. "Yeah, he's right, we don't need to know what you were doing."

Folnir was suddenly there. "Pardon me for interrupting, but I just talked to Fjord, and he said that since we all turned in early last night on account of our encounter with the Outcasts, the bride and groom can have their first dance this morning."

Hiccup stiffened at that. He wasn't a good dancer before, and now he had a prosthetic leg! "I don't think I can do it," he muttered sadly. He stood up to leave, but Astrid stopped him.

"Then let me help you."

Before he could do anything, Hiccup found himself being dragged over to a large, open area that was in the dead center of the room. "Astrid, please, I really don't think this is a good idea!"

Astrid stopped and looked back at him. "And why's that?"

Hiccup hesitated at first. "Because...because I might end up dancing like a total dork!"

Astrid glared at her overreacting husband. "You don't need my help to dance like a dork. So get over yourself. And give me your hands." She said the last part more gently as she held out her hands to him.

Hiccup sighed. He didn't really have anything to lose. So, he took her hands.

Astrid smiled as she pulled him to her. "Just try to follow my movements."

Hiccup looked confused. "I didn't know you knew how to dance."

"My father taught me," was his wife's reply. "You know, just in case."

The next thing either of them knew, they were dancing in the middle of the room. Every now and again, Hiccup would almost stumble, but he miraculously regained his footing and continued the dance.

Amber sighed as she watched the two. "It's nice to see those two happy together."

Snivels chuckled. "It sure is. You know, I still remember the day I first met Hiccup."

* * *

 _Snivels the Snivy was trapped._

 _He was in a small wooden cage, with a small blanket draped over it, giving him no viewpoint of the outside world. He could tell that he was being carried somewhere by someone. And he knew that someone was a Viking._

 _Vikings._

 _How he hated them._

 _He had lost his family to Vikings, and he had to take orders from them countless times. He had more trainers than he could count. And all of them thought that he was too weak to use in battle. But he just wouldn't obey them. He never obeyed a Viking._

 _But he had made an exception._

 _His first trainer was unlike any of the others. She was kind, and she treated him like an equal._

 _As far as he was concerned, she was no Viking._

 _And now he was trapped. And he had been trapped by them._

 _He had been looking for food in the forest with his pack, when he stumbled into a dragon trap. His pack had tried to free him before a Viking arrived to check the trap. Snivels told the pack to hide so they wouldn't be killed. And now he was being led away from his forest home, to where he had no idea. He heard the sound of a door opening, and realized that the Viking was taking him inside a house._

 _"Sir," the Viking said, "I found something in one of the dragon traps."_

 _"Well, what is it?" said another voice. Snivels assumed that it had to be someone important. He felt the cage jerk a little, and realized he had been set on a table. Then, in one swift motion, the blanket was removed, and Snivels could finally see where he was._

 _He was in what appeared to be a rather large house. There was a set of stairs leading to the second floor, a fireplace to cook food, and at least a dozen shields hanging on the wall. He turned to see two large Vikings looking down at him, one of which he recognized as the chief._

 _Although he hadn't taken the time to learn everything about the village, he did figure out to recognize the chief when he saw him._

 _Stoick reached for the cage, and Snivels glared at him. He lunged onto the bars of the cage, startling the chief, who drew his hand back. "That thing is acting like a dragon", he said._

A dragon, eh? I'll show him a dragon!

 _Snivels retreated to the other end of the cage and looked back at Stoick. And growled. Or at least tried to. Stoick grunted. "We'll deal with him later." He turned to leave, with the other Viking following._

 _As soon as they left, Snivels darted to the cage door. He fiddled with the handle that locked it, until it unlocked, and the cage door swung open. Snivels walked out of the cage and jumped off the table. They'd have to do batter than that to trap him._

 _Vikings._

 _Always so stubborn and narrow-minded._

 _Snivels realized that they'd be back, and decided to hide upstairs. The stairs were just small enough for him to jump up on to climb to the second floor. When he was halfway up, he noticed something. He sniffed, and realized that there was a strange scent. It wasn't a Viking, which he concluded smelled like rotten fish and dirty hair. This scent was clean, and a lot less musky. And it was coming from the second floor. He quickly climbed the stairs, and noticed that it was a room. And it was surprisingly empty._

 _Or at least that's what it appeared to be._

 _Snivels was so focused on examining the room, he failed to notice the teen watching him. He finally noticed him when he jumped up onto the bed._

 _Snivels recognized the teen immediately. He had watched him countless times, being bullied and teased by most of the other teens. He understood how he felt most of the time, and vowed to one day become his friend. And here he was, in the teen's room, standing on his bed, and staring at him. Although he hadn't taken time to learn his name, Snivels could already tell that they had a lot in common. He watched as the teen kneeled down and reached out to pet him. But Snivels had a better idea. Rushing forward, he jumped into the teen's fur vest, snuggling in as if it were a blanket. He could tell by the teen's stillness that he hadn't expected that to happen. Usually, no other creature could fit underneath his vest, but Snivels was smaller than most of this kind. He snuggled into the small space between the teen and his vest, so that even his leafy tail was hidden._

 _"So warm..."_

 _There was a long moment of silence before the teen spoke._

 _"You can talk?"_

 _Snivels's eyes snapped open. Had he said that out loud? He sighed. He knew he had to explain for his ability to talk. He wiggled out of the vest and looked up at the teen._

 _"Yes. I talk. I...watched...and I learned how...by myself. But I haven't...gotten the hang of...speaking...in full...sentences. Can you...help me...practice?"_

 _The teen thought for a minute before shrugging. "Sure, I guess."_

 _Snivels smiled. "If you...help me...get the hang...of speaking,...I'd really...appreciate it. I've been...watching you from...the forest...and I like you. I figured out...you need...a friend...so I taught myself...how to talk. I was...like you...I was alone...and afraid,...but I'm not...anymore. I have...friends...but we don't...see each other...often. If you want...I'll be your...friend."_

 _The teen listened patiently, enjoying the fact that there was finally someone who was willing to talk to him. If he was lucky, the Snivy would be willing to listen to him, too._

 _"Okay, sure. I'd like that."_

 _Snivels snuggled back into his place underneath the teen's vest, enjoying the warmth provided by the selfless and well-meaning person he'd come to know of._

* * *

"After I learned Hiccup could be trusted, I accepted him as my trainer!" Snivels concluded.

Amber was really one of the few Pokémon that had actually been listening to Snivels's story. The others were Crackers, Buddy, and Mawnan the Rowlet.

At that time, Hiccup and Astrid had rejoined their friends at the table. The male Haddock had noticed the sketchbook Snivels had been using. "What is all that?" he asked.

"Just some things I was checking," Snivels replied.

"What kind of things?" Heather asked as she leaned forward a bit to try and get a closer look.

Snivels shrugged. "Oh, the zero percent chance of Hiccup and Astrid ever divorcing, the amount of time we have before anyone on Berk finds out about the marriage, and, most recently, the possibility of those two ever having children together."

It just so happened Astrid had been drinking a cup of apple juice at that very moment. When Snivels said the last part, she was so surprised she actually did a spit take.

Everyone else jumped back in surprise at the sudden spout of apple juice. Heather thoughtfully grabbed a napkin and reached over to hand it to her friend. Astrid was coughing a little, but she managed to stop long enough to utter, "Thank you," as she grabbed the napkin and wiped her mouth with it.

Hiccup scratched the back of his neck awkwardly as Snivels went to put the sketchbook away in a safe place. "It's a bit early to be thinking about that, isn't it?"

"Tell that to all the Hiccstrid fans," said the Servine.

Hiccup sighed before he suddenly looked confused. "Wait, wh-what did you just say?"

"Hiccstrid," Snivels repeated. "You know, Hiccup and Astrid blended together. Try it."

"I like it," Amber said immediately.

"You would," Hiccup and Astrid said simultaneously.

Heather chuckled. "You know, that actually is a neat thing to say. Hiccstrid."

"Sorry to change the subject," said Ninjark, "But Snivels is right about the people of Berk. We're gonna be staying here for quite a while, I'm pretty sure they're gonna notice we're gone."

"Not if Mewtwo has anything to say about it."

Cue Kickin' Hawk.

The veteran Hawlucha sat down at the far end of the table, grabbing a malasada and taking small bites out of it. He didn't bother waiting for anyone to ask before he continued. "A Psychic-Type Legendary Pokémon that is the offspring of the original Mew. He has the power to erase memories and create false memories so the target doesn't remember what they were doing."

"Like how Splice made a false memory for Stoick, so he thought that thing we found in the scrap heap belonged to his wife?" Folnir asked.

That got Hiccup's attention right away. "What about my dad?"

"That helmet he gave you," said Kickin' Hawk, "It never belonged to your mother. That was a false memory our Mewtwo friend, Splice, planted into his brain in an effort to make that bloated old yak less of a downer."

Hiccup was absolutely flabbergasted. "Y-you know, that would have been nice to know before Toothless left to..." He suddenly gave up and slumped down in his seat. "Oh, nevermind."

Toothless's ears perked up at the sound of his name. He and Ebony were with the other dragons in a different area of the Celebration Hall, chowing down on an all-you-can-eat fish buffet.

"So, where's the helmet now?" Blaze asked.

"Back where it belongs," Kickin' Hawk replied. "In the scrap heap."

"Stoick doesn't know a thing," Folnir added.

A large, dark shadow suddenly feel over the table as Drageist arrived. "Team Go-Getters?"

All of the members who were present quieted down and listened.

"I need your help," the Giratina said, "Something dangerous is coming, and I have a feeling it's after all of you. Come with me, I'll show you."

Everyone collectively looked to Hiccup, who hesitantly stood up and followed Drageist as he walked out of the room on his six thick legs. The rest of the Team followed suit, including the dragons. Out in the hallway, there was a large, dark portal swirling in front of them.

"Don't be afraid," Drageist said as he passed harmlessly through the portal. "Follow me."

Of course, Hiccup went first. Snivels and Toothless followed shortly. The three friends found themselves in the strangest world they had ever seen before. Pieces of the ground were floating aimlessly through a wide vacuum of soundless space. Trees were planted in some of the pieces, a couple of which were turned upside down. The largest piece was in the middle, and was laid out flat like an island. Hiccup thanked his lucky stars they had landed on the bigger piece.

A soft whooshing sound brought Hiccup's attention to the strangest-looking Pokémon he'd seen (besides Type: Null, of course).

It had a serpentine look, with six black ghostly streamers on its back with red spikes at the tips. There were spikes where its legs should have been, and four additional golden spikes were near the edge of its tail. The horns on its head were facing the back, and a black vertical stripe was broken into pieces that ran all the way down its body.

Snivels and Toothless, along with Astrid, Blaze and Stormfly, who had followed their friends through the portal, saw the creature, too. "What is that?" Snivels asked.

The creature chuckled. "It is I, Drageist."

Hiccup looked both shocked and confused. "Did you...evolve?"

Drageist shook his head. "No, young hero. This is my true form. I can only assume it when I am at home."

"What do you mean home?" Heather asked. She had just passed through the portal, but had managed to hear Drageist talking about his true form.

The Origin Forme Giratina gestured to the area around them with his head. "This place is my home," he said.

All of Team Go-Getters looked around in amazement as Pokémon and dragons alike joined their three human friends in this new, mysterious world. Drageist smiled at the large group of heroes.

"Welcome to the Distortion World."

* * *

 **Me: Yay! I got the chapter done!**

 **Crackers: You think those readers will leave you some reviews?**

 **Snivels: Well, there's certainly only one way to find out!**

 **Blaze: I'm personally looking forward to what Cottonmouth25 will say about this.**

 **Ninjark: You're not the only one.**

 **Me: How to Become a Trainer TV Movie is underway!**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Dimensions and Timelines

 **Me: Anyone up for some more Distortion World fun?**

 **Snivels: I am!**

 **Blaze: Hold your dragons, there, Snivster, we've got work to do.**

 **Drageist: Now, now, my friend, it's quite all right for you all to have a little fun along the way. Fjord and Archon always say it's one of the many joys of life.**

 **Ninjark: Well, he's a Legendary Pokémon, so I'll believe it.**

 **Me: Thanks for the support, Drageist!**

 **Drageist: Happy to help, ma'am.**

* * *

Hiccup looked around the Distortion World in wonder. Nothing seemed to be staying in one place for too long, with all of the large chunks of rocks and trees drifting aimlessly through the wide void. He looked back at Drageist. "You really live here?"

The Origin Forme Giratina nodded. "I control all of the antimatter here. I also keep defeated villains in a special prison deeper within the void. It's practically inescapable. Every prison cell is specially designed to hold the specific prisoner without flaw, and any prisoner with a lying heart will remain trapped there for all eternity."

Hiccup cautiously looked down toward the dark void of the lower Distortion World, spying a few chunks of rock and a large, strange-looking building he assumed was the prison Drageist had mentioned.

"What happens if you fall?" Snivels asked. He was also looking down into the void.

"The law of gravity doesn't work the same here as it does in the other dimensions," Drageist explained, "You'd keep falling until you loop back up to the top of the void, and then end up back where you started."

Hiccup looked confused. "What's gravity?"

Folnir decided to take over for his friend. "Gravity is what causes you to fall." He pointed into the void to emphasize the last part.

"You mean, like a stumble, or a trip?" Crackers asked.

Drageist shook his head, "No, young one, it's the force that pulls you downwards." He started hovering away, gesturing with his streamer-like apendages for them to follow. "The phenomenon that any two particles, or bodies, if free to move, will be accelerated towards each other."

As if on cue, Hiccup suddenly bumped into Astrid. He had been so fascinated with the odd scenery of the Distortion World that he had forgotten to look where he was going. "Sorry! Sorry, I was...distracted."

Astrid gave a slight nod. "Yeah, I get it. This place isn't really something you see everyday."

An awkward silence followed soon after. Hiccup still hadn't gotten used to the fact that he and Astrid were married. His thoughts drifted to the first dance from earlier. Truth be told, there was a reason he'd been afraid of dancing badly, and it didn't have all that much to do with himself.

Unknown to him, Astrid also had a confession of her own. Neither realized that they both had something to say until they started talking at the same time.

"There's something I have to..."

They stopped, sighing. Hiccup looked away awkwardly, barely catching Astrid's next statement. "You first."

Not wanting a repeat of the "conversation" he had with Stoick about Dragon Training, he obliged. "The first dance earlier, I...I was just...I didn't want you to look bad because of me. I'm used to having people yelling and laughing at me, but you're not. I'd never want you to go through what I did back on Berk, and I'd never want to hurt you in any way."

Typical Hiccup, always more worried about others than he was about himself. Honestly, Astrid wasn't surprised. Dropping the tough-girl act she was so familiar with, she took his hand in her own.

"You never hurt me, Hiccup. Not then, not last night, and certainly not now."

As reassuring as that was, Hiccup was still expecting the usual punch to the arm (or if luck was against him, a more painful area). "You're stronger than I am, Astrid. You're braver, and a better fighter. Ever since I met you, I looked up to you. I admired you. You...you were my hero. You still are."

"I know," Astrid replied, "I...I read what you wrote in that book."

Hiccup was both surprised and confused. "What...how...when did...?"

Astrid put a finger to his lips to silence him. "Now, it's my turn to talk, and your turn to listen." Hiccup nodded as she removed the digit that kept him quiet. He didn't say anything, just waited.

His wife took this as a signal to continue. "We were resting on another island, when you were captured, and I was behaving irrationally. I wasn't thinking about my friends, I was thinking about you. Snivels showed me your notebook, and I saw what you had written. If I hadn't seen that, I...I wouldn't have stopped to think about what I was doing. I'm not like you. I don't always think of others before myself, especially not when we were all fighting dragons. You were different. Hiccup, you had the chance to gain everything you ever dreamed of, and you gave it all up for your friends. I can't imagine anything more brave than that. And what you did for us, defeating the Red Death almost entirely on your own, that's something I could never accomplish myself. You're _my_ hero, Hiccup, and I love you. Forever and always."

Hiccup's heart was so full from what she said, he could hardly speak himself. So, he hugged her instead. When he felt her return the embrace, he was sure he'd start crying at any second. "You have no idea how much that means to me, Astrid. I would have gone my whole life waiting for you to say that, and it'd still be worth it." He pulled back just enough so he could look her in the eye. "It doesn't matter who you were then. All that matters is here and now, you're my wife, and I love you. Forever and always."

Astrid rolled her eyes in mock annoyance. "Sappy as always."

Hiccup smiled a little. "I meant every word," he said, giving her his own light punch on her shoulder. She punched him back thrice as hard in reply.

"I know that, Dragon Boy."

Hiccup was too happy to complain. This was the Astrid he had fallen in love with, always strong and brave, ready for anything that came her way.

And she was his.

They had just started leaning in for a kiss when the moment was interrupted by Heather.

"Hey, Hiccstrid, you coming, or what?"

Astrid immediately stopped and turned to glare daggers at the raven-haired girl, who was waiting up ahead with nearly all of the dragons and Pokémon. Toothless and Stormfly were giving their riders matching expressions of tenderness and amusement. They hadn't gotten very far, since the ground was all drifting aimlessly, and it was a wonder they didn't seem to notice their leaders' absence until just then.

Hiccup sighed. "Yeah, that's not going away anytime soon."

Drageist flew over so that he was beside the large group of friends. "It would be a good idea for you two to get moving. It's not safe to stay in one spot for too long."

The ground beneath newlywed couple gave a sudden jolt as it started moving a bit faster through the endless void, prompting everyone's favorite couple to quickly join their friends. It was then Astrid noticed that Blaze was absent. She stopped to look around, but there was no sign of her Blaziken partner.

"Where's Blaze?"

Snivels suddenly looked nervous. "Remember when I asked Drageist what would happen if someone fell into the void?"

Before anyone could ask, a faint sound of someone screaming came from above their heads. The sound gradually got louder before Blaze suddenly crashed down near the spot where the large group had first entered the Distortion World. Lying on her stomach, the Blaziken whipped her head up after recovering from the impact.

"I have been falling...for _thirty minutes_!"

Thirty minutes? There was no way that much time could have passed. Drageist quickly jumped in to provide an answer to the unasked question that was on everyone's mind.

"Time works different here, too."

Well, _that_ explained why it seemed like a while before anyone noticed Hiccup and Astrid were lagging behind.

Team Go-Getters waited for Blaze to join them before following the Origin Forme Giratina even further into the Distortion World.

* * *

It was not easy, traveling across moving bits and pieces of land that were floating right side up, upside down, sideways, and even doing very slow loop-the-loops. Hiccup sat down to rest as the last of Team Go-Getters made it to another large piece of ground that was also floating aimlessly.

"And exactly how did you expect us to get past all of that?"

Heather wasn't usually the one to complain, but even a calm and quiet person like her could get annoyed at the crazy layout of the Distortion World.

"My apologies," Drageist replied. "I'm used to having guests who can navigate through my home almost as easily as I can."

"Legendary Pokémon, I presume," Snivels muttered.

Indeed, Folnir had no reason to complain. The Yveltal had expertly navigated his way through the world of void as though it was his own home.

Amber went to join her tired mate. "How much further is it?" the Charmeleon asked.

Drageist chuckled. "We're here."

Hiccup looked up at the Origin Forme Giratina with confusion etched on his face. "We're here?"

Drageist nodded, spreading out his ribbon-like appendages. Several portals, similar to the one that brought them there in the first place, appeared at the Giratina's command, with blurry images and muffled sounds emitting from all of them. Even Folnir, who was a Legendary Pokémon like Drageist's species, was surprised at the sudden development.

"What are they?" Crackers asked.

"These are just a few of the many different dimensions and alternate timelines I am due to guard," Drageist answered. "Every different kind of world imaginable, with limitless possibilities." He paused to gesture to one of the smaller portals. "This is a gateway to a timeline alternate to your own. In fact, if it weren't for this particular timeline, your timeline wouldn't even exist! We call these 'canon timelines.'" He then gestured to one of the portals next to the one leading to the canon timeline. "And this is another alternate universe that exists among the same canon timeline as your own. Each alternate timeline has almost the same aspects as the canon timeline, but with different outcomes. The possibilities of any alternate timeline are limitless, everything from 'what if scenarios' to role-reversal and genderswaps."

Snivels shuddered at the sound of those last two. "Yeah, I think I'll sit those ones out, please."

"What does all this have to do with why we're here?" Astrid asked. She was still annoyed about her friends interrupting that tender moment she had with Hiccup earlier, so the question sounded a lot harsher than it should have been.

The Origin Forme Giratina suddenly looked grim, which Hiccup noticed. "Drageist, she didn't mean it like that..."

The Renegade Pokémon silenced the young hero with a raised appendage. "It's not that, my friend. There is a reason I gathered you all here. My mate, Opal, lost her Griseous Orb while traveling between dimensions."

"Her what?" asked a confused Ninjark.

"Griseous Orb," Drageist repeated. "Whenever a Giratina holds a Griseous Orb, they get a boost in their power, and they're able to assume their Origin Forme outside the Distortion World. Both me and Opal have one, but she lost hers a while back, and I've been trying to find it ever since. After receiving information that the Orb has fallen into enemy hands, Fjord asked me to summon you Trainers of Destiny. I'd ask your counterparts in the canon timeline to do the job, but they can't know about all of this. Interacting with anything in an alternate timeline can change the outcome in the original timeline, and that can end in disaster for everyone, both canon and counterpart. That's why it's my duty to watch over all the dimensions, to make sure everything is in balance."

The sudden appearance of a Shiny Giratina, also in her Origin Forme, caught everyone's attention.

If Kickin' Hawk had eyebrows, he would have raised one. "Opal, I presume?"

The Shiny Giratine nodded. "We haven't officially met, but I have heard about you, Lucha Toughshot."

"Lucha Toughshot?!"

Kickin' Hawk stiffened at the sound of his trainer's shout of surprise. The veteran Hawlucha's expression hardened and he spoke through gritted teeth. "I profoundly prefer being called Kickin' Hawk."

Drageist decided to continue, to prevent things from getting too stressful when the adventure hadn't even begun. "The Griseous Orb boosts my kind's power levels to give us a boost, but it can also be used to summon portals in a way similar to how I just did. With Opal's Griseous Orb in an enemy's hands, I fear they could be using it for their own villainous purposes. We've noticed various other villains have disappeared from their own dimensions, most likely building an army. We believe if the mastermind is taken out, the entire conspiracy will collapse instantly. But it won't be easy. That's why we need your help."

"Then perhaps we should get started," Amber suggested.

Drageist shook his head. "I'm afraid not all of you can come along. It'll be too risky with that fiend running around with Opal's Griseous Orb. Not to mention, if too many of you come along, you'll be spotted by your counterparts, and that could lead to trouble." He turned to look Hiccup, Astrid and Heather in the eye. "You three need to come along for sure, along with two partners of your choice, just to keep things simple."

Of course, the three trainers chose their respective dragons and their prime Pokémon partners.

Opal smiled at the Pokémon and dragons that didn't get picked. "I'll escort you all back to the Ice Caves."

"Make sure Lockheed takes his noontime nap!" Snivels said as he finished saying goodbye to his adoptive family.

Opal nodded at the Servine as she opened a portal back to the Ice Caves, leading the rest of Team Go-Getters back through. Ebony stopped to nuzzle Toothless affectionately before the female Night Fury glided elegantly through the portal.

Drageist waved a quick farewell to his mate as she also passed through the portal before turning back to the now much smaller group of heroes. "I must warn you to exercise caution. This villain, he..."

A loud rumbling noise interrupted whatever Drageist was going to say. Dark purple and blue strip-like portals started opening around them, with a sort of ripping sound emitting from them as they opened.

Hiccup took a step back. "Drageist, what's going on?"

"Dimensional rifts," the Giratina replied. "They've been popping up ever since Opal lost her Griseous Orb. No doubt the result of that fiend abusing the Orb's power. Stay close to me, the rifts have powerful suction."

Unfortunately, a certain Servine had to figure that out the hard way. Being one of the smaller members, and having a long tail, Snivels found himself being pulled towards one of the rifts. His long, leafy tail had gotten caught in the suction. He tried to grab onto Toothless to prevent being pulled any further, but the Night Fury shrieked at the sudden tug near the end of his tail. That brought Hiccup's attention to what was happening to his friend.

"Snivels!"

Said Servine Prince had just lost his grip on Toothless's tail and was forced through one of the dimensional rifts. "Help me...!"

Not wanting to see his friend go alone, Hiccup mounted the nearby Night Fury. "Toothless, go!" Toothless didn't hesitate at all, they were soon in the air. The leader of Team Go-Getters ignored Astrid's shouts of protest as he steered the Night Fury into the rift Snivels had just passed through. Within seconds, the three friends disappeared from view - together.

Without much thought to what could happen if they entered the rift themselves, Astrid mounted Stormfly. "I'm going after them!"

Heather stared, wide-eyed and worried, at the multiple rifts around them. "We don't even know where they went!"

Astrid was about to protest when she realized that Heather was right. It was hard to tell exactly which of the dimensional rifts Hiccup and his two companions had passed through. She quickly made a decision. "We'll split up. I'll take Stormfly through one of the rifts on the far right. Heather, you take Windshear through one of the rifts on the left. Blaze, you and Ninjark take one of the rifts in the middle."

"She's right," Drageist said. "Those rifts lead to random dimensions and timelines, it's hard to know where your friends have landed. I'll help you search, but first I need to alert Fjord and Archon about what has happened, and make sure those three didn't land in the canon timeline. I'll come find you if anything happens."

Astrid gave an approving nod before she urged Stormfly to take off. The Deadly Nadder quickly flew into one of the larger rifts on the far right, as Astrid said they would. Heather and Windshear were next, flying towards one of the rifts on the left. The Razorwhip growled nervously. "I know," Heather said to her friend, "I'm a little scared, too." When they disappeared through the rift, Blaze grabbed Ninjark, which caused him to yell out in surprise. Tucking the Frogadier under her arm, the feisty Blaziken took off running towards a dimensional rift that was right in front of them. Ninjark actually screamed as Blaze leaped forward, thanks to her powerful legs, and the two disappeared through the rift.

Drageist sighed as he watched the last two of the group of heroes disappear.

"This is going to be harder than I thought."

* * *

Snivels screamed as he found himself plummeting towards a lone island in the middle of a vast, blue ocean. Even if he was lucky enough to land on the small island, there wouldn't likely be anything soft enough to break his fall.

"Hang on, Snivels!" Hiccup shouted from above as Toothless moved into a dive to try and catch the Servine Prince. "We're coming!"

Snivels didn't pay much attention to them, since he was more concerned with all the bones he'd be breaking upon impact.

He didn't have a need to worry, though, as the black wings of a Night Fury wrapped around him, shielding him from impact as the trio of friends collided with several trees before touching down on the island. None of them were hurt, but they were very much shaken from the impact.

"Let's never do that again," Snivels stated from his position in Toothless's wings. His voice was a bit muffled, but Hiccup managed to hear him. He promptly nodded.

"Agreed."

The Servine Prince wriggled his way out of Toothless's wings just as the Night Fury caught sight of something and growled warningly. Snivels followed Toothless's gaze to find what looked like a giant, green and yellow eel with dragon wings that was curled up on the ground, fast asleep. The Servine nearly screamed out in terror until he noticed something oddly familiar about the creature.

"Is that...is that a Siren?! I can't believe this! A real, live Siren is right in front of us!"

A confused Hiccup dismounted Toothless to get a better look at the strange, eel-like creature. "What?"

Keeping his eyes on the sleeping Siren, Snivels rambled on. "They're an incredibly rare species, and almost impossible to find! This is so going into the Book of Dragons when we get back! I'm loving this!"

The noise he was making woke the Siren. It stretched its wings in the sunlight and yawned, showing off his needle-like teeth. Toothless curled protectively around Hiccup and Snivels as the eel-like dragon turned his head in the direction of the sound. His eyes widened upon seeing Hiccup. Then the Siren began to shapeshift. It changed from a slimy serpent to a humanoid with wings, talons, fangs, blonde hair that reached his shoulders, and a hideous scar curving around his neck. He had clothes on (thank Arceus), and his eyes were the same shade of blue they had been in his dragon form.

"What are you doing all the way out here with that Night Fury?"

Hiccup was too stunned by the Siren's sudden and unexplained transformation to answer. Snivels hesitantly walked out into the Siren's view. "Pardon me, but we were trying to help out a friend, and we may have accidentally landed in your home."

The Siren's eyes flared dangerously at the sight of the unfamiliar creature. "What is that?!"

Hiccup finally found enough of his voice to answer. "He's a friend. His name's Snivels."

The Siren raised an eyebrow. "You're friends with a talking leaf-tailed snake?"

Snivels chose to ignore the description of himself, which he found insulting whenever Snotlout said it, and responded to the Siren's question. "You're a shapeshifting dragon who lulls sailors to sleep with hypnotic lullabies."

The Siren started to speak, but found he couldn't come up with a comeback for that statement. "Touché."

Hiccup slowly made his way out from behind Toothless. "Can you help us, Mr...?"

"Don't act like you don't recognize your own friend," snapped the Siren, "It's Batwings, Hiccup, remember?"

If Hiccup's eyes could widen in surprise any more, they would have been the size of dinner plates. "You know me?"

Snivels quickly shushed him. "Something tells me we landed in one of those alternate timelines Drageist was talking about."

The Siren - Batwings - stared at them in both extreme confusion and mild frustration. "I don't know what you two are going on about, but my family and I have had enough trouble here with that pesky little Flying Wyvern."

"Flying Wyvern?" Hiccup and Snivels asked in unison.

As if to answer their question, there was a rustling noise from the bushes nearby. An orange and blue streak jumped from shrub to shrub, moving too fast for either Hiccup or Snivels to get a good look at it. Toothless growled warningly at whatever was heading right for them, but the creature kept moving forward.

Finally, the creature leaped out of the bushes.

Hiccup and Snivels both screamed out in fright.

* * *

 **Me: And the creature will be revealed in the next chapter!**

 **Snivels: Hey, don't leave us hanging!**

 **Ninjark: I, for one, need a break.**

 **Blaze: Well, I need some action, thank you very much!**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Monsters of Berk

 **Me: Now let's find out just what kind of creature they'll be dealing with.**

 **Snivels: Good, because I've been hanging for quite a while, here!**

* * *

Hiccup and Snivels both screamed out in fright as the creature Batwings mentioned earlier sprang out of the bushes...

...only to stop when they realized that it was no bigger than a baby Deadly Nadder.

It was a rather cute little thing, a bipedal dragon-like critter that was orange with blue stripes and wing claws, a tail with blunted spikes on the end, and a pair of bright blue eyes that could pierce into the darkest of souls.

Immediately smitten with the creature, Snivels stepped forward and picked up the little...thing and cuddled it close. "Aw, he's so cute!"

"This is the monster that's been giving you so much trouble?" Hiccup asked Batwings.

The Siren shrugged. "More of a nuisance, really. A lot of injured and orphaned monsters migrate to this area because of the lifestyle of the nearby Peaceable tribe. I wouldn't be surprised if someone had gone and done away with the parents of that poor little Rathalos."

"Rathalos?" Snivels repeated. He continued to cuddle the baby monster. "I don't know what that name means, but it sounds pretty awesome!"

The little Rathalos suddenly squirmed free and darted into the bushes. There was way too much going on for him to stay calm. Snivels stared after the retreating baby monster. "Ratha, where are you going?"

Hiccup sighed, "Look, Snivels, you really don't have to..."

He didn't get the chance to finish before the Servine ran after the Rathalos.

"...Turn every dragon into your best friend," he drawled out.

An offended growl made him turn around to find Toothless giving him a very angry glare. Realizing his mistake, Hiccup quickly stuttered out, "No offense, bud." He then turned to Batwings. "Can you help us get to Berk? Because I've never really been here before, so I don't know which way to go."

Snivels soon arrived with Ratha in his arms. "If you wouldn't mind, that is."

Batwings sighed. "I really don't have anything better to do," he said, "I'll go get Mocktalk."

"Mocktalk?" Hiccup and Snivels repeated in unison.

The Siren just turned and went to find his friend, groaning to himself, "I should have stayed asleep..."

* * *

Mocktalk turned out to be a kind of monster known as a Qurupeco. He possessed the ability to mimic the calls of other creatures, mainly dragons and monsters. Snivels was quite amazed to find out that Mocktalk was also able to speak, but in a more broken form of Norse.

"What strange leaf snake with Hiccup?" the Qurupeco asked.

"I'm a Servine," Snivels replied, slowly, "You know, serpent and vine mushed together. But you can call me Snivels."

Mocktalk made a pleased-sounding squawk. "Mocktalk like Snivels!" He and Batwings were leading Hiccup, Snivels and Ratha, who were all riding on Toothless, in the direction of Berk. "Snivels like Mocktalk?"

Snivels shrugged. "Well, I don't have any reason not to like you."

Mocktalk squawked again. "Mocktalk love Batwings! Mocktalk and Batwings best friends! Mocktalk is Batwings's Monstie!"

"Monstie?" Batwings repeated from his position on Mocktalk's back. He'd never heard the Qurupeco say that word even once.

"Monster bestie!" squawked Mocktalk. "Mocktalk is Batwing's monster bestie! Batwings's Monstie, see?"

Snivels nodded. "Yeah, I get it," he said, "Very clever, Mocktalk."

The Qurupeco crooned happily at the compliment he had received. He then squawked at Batwings, "Visit Berk? Mocktalk love Berk!"

"We were just there a few days ago!" Batwings protested.

Mocktalk's response was giving Batwings a pleading look. The Qurupeco missed his friends on Berk quite a bit, and he really wanted to at least say hello to them, if he could.

Batwings tried not to fall for Mocktalk's little trick, but eventually he gave in. "Alright, we'll stop and say hello to our friends, but _that's it!_ We don't have time for any fun and games."

Mocktalk didn't mind that at all. He was just happy that he and Batwings were going to be visiting Berk.

"So, tell me again how and why you ended up on our island," the Siren asked Hiccup, hoping to change the subject.

Hiccup looked really nervous. "Well, you see, it's...complicated. Basically, we're not really from your world, we're from a different world that's as different from yours as it is similar, and...gods, this is not going well."

Snivels nodded in agreement. The situation would have been much better if Drageist was there to help explain, since he was the expert on all things alternate dimensions.

"Well," said Batwings, "I'll admit you're not acting a whole lot like the Hiccup I know. You sure you didn't hit your head or something?"

The one-legged hero couldn't help but lay a hand on his forehead, as if he felt a headache coming on. "I'm really, really, _really_ sure," he said.

Ratha, who had been squirming in Snivels's arms the whole way, suddenly sprang free and slammed into Hiccup's back. The force sent Hiccup flailing in the saddle, his metal leg slipping out of the stirrup and leaving Toothless's prosthetic tailfin flapping uselessly in the wind.

The Night Fury and his riders screamed as they tumbled out of the air and crash landed on a large sea stack with a moderately-sized forest. Batwings steered Mocktalk down to the sea stack, and they landed not far from where the small group of friends had crashed. The Siren dismounted his Monstie and offered a hand to Hiccup, who had sprawled out in the dirt. "You okay?"

Hiccup hesitated at the sight of Batwings's claws, but he grasped his hand, allowing the Siren to pull him to his feet.

It was then that Batwings noticed a glint of something golden on the left ring finger of Hiccup's hand. "What is that?"

Hiccup looked down at the ring, then at the Siren. "It's..." he hesitated, then answered, "It's a wedding ring."

Normally, Sirens were no experts on weddings and rings and whatnot, but spending a lot of time in the chief's house on Berk made Batwings quite familiar with the ceremonies Vikings had when they got hitched. "You're _married?!_ " he cried out in shock.

His sudden shout back Hiccup jump back a little. "Yeah, I am," he said cautiously.

It was no mystery to Batwings who his supposed friend was married to, but it would have been impossible for Hiccup and Astrid to get married so soon after he and Mocktalk had left Berk, almost immediately after saving Hiccup from the Outcasts, when they hadn't even been engaged. "Okay, you're definitely _not_ the Hiccup I know."

"Another Hiccup!" Mocktalk exclaimed happily. "Mocktalk call you Hiccup Two!"

Hiccup winced a little. "Well, I've been called worse." He was about to look for Snivels when the Servine spoke up from nearby.

"Uh, guys? I think I broke something."

Hiccup and Batwings turned to find the Grass Snake Pokémon looking nervously at something he'd landed on. Something large and oval-shaped. Something pale yellow with green stripes on it. Something that had cracks on it that were gradually getting larger and were accompanied by a cracking sound.

A bit of the egg fell away to reveal an orange reptilian eye, which blinked in the sunlight. A moment later, the whole egg burst completely apart to reveal a baby monster that looked a lot like Ratha, but was green and looked a little bit spikier.

Gulping nervously, Snivels started to slowly back away from the newly hatched monster, in case it turned out to be more dangerous than Ratha's species. "Nice...little...Burning...Flying...Wyvern...monster..."

The baby monster suddenly pounced, pinning Snivels beneath her. Fortunately, she was only examining him curiously, not attacking.

"...thing," Snivels finished as best he could after having the air knocked out of him.

"The proper name is Rathian," Batwings explained, "The female version of the Rathalos."

That made sense. Ratha and the Rathian were very similar in appearance.

Speaking of Ratha, it was around that time that Hiccup noticed he was absent. "Guys, sorry to interrupt...whatever that is, but Ratha is gone!"

He felt a little silly saying 'Ratha,' but he couldn't think of anything else to call the little Rathalos.

Snivels gently pushed the baby Rathian off of him and leapt to his feet. "Did anyone see where he went?!"

"Don't worry!" Mocktalk squawked. "Mocktalk help find Ratha!"

There was no need for it, though, as the baby Rathalos suddenly burst out of the bushed, his eyes wide with fright. Ratha dove into Snivels's arms, whimpering like the little baby he was.

"Mocktalk found Ratha!" the Qurupeco said happily.

Snivels ignored Mocktalk's cry of mistaken triumph as he stroked Ratha. "What's wrong, little guy?" The only response he got was another whimper.

There was a snapping sound from the underbrush, and Toothless growled warningly. A large shape was stalking towards them, its piercing red eyes standing out against its dark fur and scales. It looked like a frightening mix of a dragon and a black panther.

Hiccup wisely took a step back. "B-Batwings," he stammered fearfully, "What do you call that thing?"

The monster threw back its head and let out a blood-curdling screech that would have made even the great Stoick the Vast wet his pants. Batwings barely managed to shout out the name of the monster's species over the angry shriek.

"NARGACUGA!"

The group immediately scattered, barely avoiding the sharp spines the Nargacuga fired from her tail. The monster snapped her beak and lashed out with her claws, trying to grab at the creatures who had dared to invade her territory.

But that wasn't the only reason she was upset, Snivels noticed. In her lower back, near the base of her tail, a spear was lodged into her fur and scales, and quite deeply by the looks of it. Being one to never let an injured creature to continue suffering, Snivels leapt onto the Nargacuga's back and grabbed the spear, pulling hard.

The monster shrieked at the sudden burst of pain and tried to shake the Servine off. But Snivels held on tightly, and he continued to tug on the spear. If he could get it out, he was sure it would make the Nargacuga feel much better.

Finally, after a lot of pulling and twisting, the sharp end of the spear popped out, and Snivels tumbled to the ground with the weapon in his hands.

The Nargacuga let out another shriek of pain before she lowered her head towards Snivels. Judging by the way she was growling, she didn't seem as happy as the Servine thought she would be after the offensive object had been removed.

"I'm sorry," he whimpered, "I was just trying to help, I swear!"

His integrity was rewarded by a soft croon and a gentle nuzzle from the grateful Nargacuga. She was feeling much better now that the spear was out.

Hiccup and Batwings watched in amazement as the creature that wanted them dead only moments ago nuzzled and licked the Servine like he was her precious little baby. She stopped only to take the spear in her teeth and throw it as far away from herself as possible.

"Your friend is rather spirited, isn't he?" Batwings asked.

Hiccup shook his head. "You don't know the half of it."

Ratha, meanwhile, had just taken notice of the Rathian that had just hatched. She hadn't seen him yet, she was busy preening her claws and wings, intent on getting rid of any dirt and debris that had gotten stuck on her while she was running away from the Nargacuga. Ratha walked up from behind her and sat down, waiting patiently for her to notice him. When she did, he let out a friendly squawk.

The Rathian responded to this by flaring out her wings, baring her teeth and letting out an angry hiss. Ratha cowered at the sudden display of aggression. The Rathian tucked in her wings and growled at him warningly before she resumed preening.

Ratha moved in a little closer and crouched into a submissive pose, hoping that his female counterpart was up for a game of chase. But the Rathian turned around so her back was to him. Maybe this time he'd get the message.

Poor little Ratha still didn't understand that the Rathian didn't want anything to do with him and his games. He padded over to the other side so he could look her in the eyes. Again, she turned around, this time letting out another hiss to make sure Ratha didn't get any more ideas.

Hiccup watched the scenario with a disturbed look on his face. "Why does this remind me so much of when I first met Astrid?" he asked no one in particular.

It was easy to see where that comparison fit in. A boy that was special in a way no one could see yet, and a girl who was more interested in her rep than making friends with anyone.

It was Hiccup and Astrid then, and it was Ratha and the Rathian now.

"I believe we were leading you back to Berk," Batwings said, hoping to change the subject.

Snivels pulled himself to his feet. "Right," he said, "And I think Swift might be able to help us with that." He patted the Nargacuga on the snout, and she crooned in response.

"You _named_ her?" Batwings blurted out. "You've got to be joking me!"

* * *

It didn't take long for them to reach Berk, now that they had an extra flying creature to handle Ratha and the baby Rathian. The village didn't look too different, which was relieving, but there were several creatures roaming around that looked nothing like Hiccup or Snivels had ever seen.

Toothless, Mocktalk and Swift landed in the plaza, their passengers dismounting with ease.

"At least we know we'll be safe here," Snivels said, mostly to himself. "At least, until Drageist comes to get us."

Mocktalk suddenly started prancing around them, particularly Hiccup. "Play game? Mocktalk love game!"

Hiccup hesitated before answering, "Uh, yeah, sure."

The Qurupeco threw his head back and let out a loud warbling call that echoed across the whole island. Moments later, the sounds of pounding footsteps warned Hiccup of an approaching group of monsters that came barreling into him. Snivels jumped back to avoid getting trampled.

Mocktalk pranced around the new arrivals. "Hiccup Two! Hiccup Two! Kay, now which one is Astrid's Monstie?"

Hiccup brushed off his clothes and looked at the monsters that were surrounding him. One of them was bulky and looked like it was made of rocks, two were lion-like and meant to be a pair, one had an appearance that vaguely reminded him of a Monstrous Nightmare, and one of them looked like some sort of creature that had clawed its way through the gates of the underworld. The last one was purple, bird-like and had some spines on its tail, like a Deadly Nadder.

Smiling with absolute certainty, Hiccup patted the Yian Garuga's snout. "This one."

While Blackhawk was happy at being recognized, Mocktalk was rather disappointed that Hiccup had found the answer to his little guessing game a lot faster that the Qurupeco thought. The Bird Wyvern dropped to the ground, wailing loudly, "Mocktalk lost! _Mocktalk lost!_ "

"CHAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Everyone froze at the sound of the screech. Up on one of the rooftops, a quadrupedal monster with cape-like wings and a shiny carapace was glaring down at them. He leapt off of the Viking house in a single bound and landed right in front of Snivels, who recoiled at the sight of the creature. "Yikes! This thing's uglier than Stoick and Alvin put together!" He took a step back. "Would it kill someone to keep him on a leash?"

The Gore Magala let out an offended roar.

It was then that Snivels noticed that the monster lacked a set of eyes. There weren't even any sockets. "And no eyes?" The Servine waved his hand in front of the Gore Magala's face. "What good is this one? It can't see!" Then he realized that the monster had a saddle strapped to his back. Whatever he was, he obviously belonged to someone.

Snivels slowly walked around the snarling Gore Magala to get a better look at the saddle. The left stirrup was rigged to a split on the monster's left wing, which radiated a strong sense of familiarity to the Servine. Deciding to get a better look, Snivels went to pull himself up onto the saddle.

What he wasn't counting on was the Gore Magala using its heat-sensing vision to realize where he had gone. As soon as he spotted the Servine's natural body heat, he leapt out of the way, leaving Snivels to go sprawling into the dirt. The Servine prince picked himself up off the ground to find the Gore Magala standing nearly ten feet away, grinning in amusement and making a sound like he was laughing.

Snivels sighed. "Okay, I did not see that coming." Then, after realizing what he just said, he added, "No pun intended."

"Are you okay?" Hiccup asked without thinking.

The Gore Magala perked up at the sound of Hiccup's voice. He bounded toward where he heard the sound coming from, confusing and frightening poor Hiccup. Then, all of a sudden, the Gore Magala stopped just three feet away from the confused and frightened Go-Getter. The carapaced monster sniffed the boy a few times before recoiling. This was not his master, who smelled of fresh air and Rathalos scales. This boy smelled like plasma blasts, Servine leaves, and a hint of gold from his wedding ring. Crooning sadly, the Gore Magala trotted away to find his real master.

As soon as the monster was out of earshot, Hiccup asked, "What was that?"

"That's Sightless," Batwings replied. "Your...'Monstie.'"

Snivels stared after the retreating Gore Magala. "No wonder he looked to happy to, uh, 'see' you." No sooner after he finished saying that, Ratha suddenly darted past him and started running after Sightless. Letting out a cry of shock, Snivels took off running after the baby monster. "Ratha!"

"Snivels, wait!" Hiccup cried out. But the Servine was already too far away to hear him. So, he ran after them, with Toothless following close behind.

Batwings, Mocktalk, Swift and the Rathian stood in awkward silence before the Siren said to the two wild monsters, "Guess we'll take you to the academy, then."

* * *

Snivels ended up chasing the hyperactive Ratha all around the village. He hadn't known such a little monster could run so fast.

"Ratha, you get back here this instant!"

But Ratha continued his pursuit of Sightless, occasionally flapping his wings in an attempt to get airborne. But he was still too young to fly.

Out of nowhere, a brown-haired girl, around ten years old, leaped out of hiding and grabbed the little Rathalos's tail. But the baby was much stronger than she thought he was, and he ended up dragging her along with him. The girl had a clear view of Snivels, who wasn't too far behind Ratha.

"Hi," the Servine greeted casually.

"Hi," the girl parroted. Then she asked, "What are you?"

"A Servine," Snivels answered automatically. "But I'll have more time to explain later. My name is Snivels."

The girl gave him a friendly smile. "Arachne."

Ratha finally stopped when he burst into the house he saw Sightless enter. Arachne quickly let go of his tail and Snivels picked up the Rathalos. "If you run off like that again, you're going in a timeout chair!" he scolded. Ratha whimpered an apology.

Hiccup soon arrived with Toothless. "Are you guys okay?"

Snivels took a quick look around and said, "I think so."

The sudden appearance of Sightless made them all jump. The Gore Magala jumped down from the upper floor of the house with something wrapped up in his wings. And that something had a very recognizable voice.

"Sightless, there's no time for playing right now, we need to..."

The Gore Magala opened his wings in response, and out tumbled the boy that was his master and best friend.

Now, it was no surprise to Hiccup who had been blanketed in Sightless's wings, but the fact that there was _another Hiccup right in front of him oh my gods what in the name of Arceus is going on right now?!_

The two Hiccups simultaneously screamed when the second one became aware of the first one's presence. Snivels set Ratha down on the floor and jumped in to explain.

"Okay, nobody panic. Long story short, we're from another dimension, he's your counterpart, and we need a place to lay low so we can wait for a friend to come take us home."

Well, that had to be the most confusing explanation MoB Hiccup (the one with Sightless) had ever heard. But there was really no other way to explain why there was a near carbon copy of himself. And he was now more intrigued with the fact that there was a talking snake in the room. "And you are what?"

"Snivels the Servine," was the answer he got.

Toothless and Sightless seemed to be taking the situation better than the two Hiccups. They were circling each other and sniffing to try and find out what the other was. Sightless took pity on the Night Fury's lack of a left tail fin and Toothless took pity on the Gore Magala's lack of eyes.

HtBaT Hiccup managed to break his own stunned silence with, "Any idea where we can stay while we wait for Drageist?"

"Well, there's always room at the academy," MoB Hiccup offered. He would have said more, but didn't get the chance to before a certain blonde walked into the open doorway.

"Hiccup, the twins have been driving everyone crazy, when are you going to..."

Astrid stopped when she realized that there were two Hiccups, accompanied by two dark dragon creatures. Eyes bugging out of her head, Astrid turned so she was facing the other way. "Are there four of you in this room?" she asked.

"Five, counting Snivels," HtBaT Hiccup said, pointing to the Servine.

That didn't help at all. "I'll just meet you at the academy," MoB Astrid said to no one in particular before she took her leave.

Snivels stared after the retreating blonde. "She actually took that better than I thought," he said. He then turned to MoB Hiccup. "I don't know if you know it already, but you're a lucky guy."

MoB Hiccup sighed. "I'll be lucky to find the guts to propose to her one day," he said.

That shocked Snivels. "Wait, you guys aren't married yet?!"

"Tell me about it," Arachne said automatically. Then after the implication of Snivels's question set in, she asked, "Wait, what you you mean by that?"

HtBaT Hiccup wordlessly held up his left hand so that his wedding ring was in plain sight.

Almost instantly, the house was filled with the excited squeals of a ten-year-old girl. "Oh my gods!"

Snivels and both Hiccups had to cover their ears at the sound of the shrill screams. MoB Hiccup thanked his lucky stars that his father was in a council meeting that day, so he wouldn't be able to hear Arachne's excited freakout. "Maybe I should go and gather the other riders," he said, mostly to himself, as he left the house with Sightless trailing. The Gore Magala didn't want to let his master out of his 'sight' again.

"And we should probably get to the academy," said Snivels, picking Ratha up and carrying him outside.

HtBaT Hiccup looked at Arachne, who was wearing an expression reminiscent of a child who'd just woken up on Snoggletog morning. "What about her?"

Snivels shrugged. "We wait for her to get it out of her system," he said, matter-of-factly. "She'll join us when she's ready."

With that, the small group left the house, leaving Arachne with her Hiccstrid euphoria.

"I can't believe this is happening," she said with a squeal. She threw her arms into the air triumphantly. "Today, I start living!"

* * *

Hiccup, Snivels, Toothless and Ratha did their best to lay low as they made their way through the village and towards the academy. Who knows what would have happened if someone had spotted who they thought was a Hiccup they were familiar with walking in close proximity to a Night Fury and a Servine.

Snivels kept his eyes on Ratha, who he had placed into Toothless's saddle and told him to stay there. "I'm serious about the timeout chair, mister!" Ratha held his head down to show he was sorry.

"Has anyone seen Batwings?"

The sound of that voice made the Servine freeze. He recognized it as Heather, but when he saw her asking some Viking if they'd seen Batwings, he immediately knew that this wasn't the Heather that he was familiar with. For one, there was a Seregios standing next to her. And for another, she had a pair of wings on her back, like Batwings did when he was in his humanoid form, which meant that, in this universe, she was Siren.

Snivels chuckled to himself. "Didn't see that coming, either."

The sound of footsteps heading their way made both Hiccup and the Servine turned their heads to see Arachne running to catch up to them. "Sorry I took so long," she said, "I haven't been that happy since I found out Batwings and Heather had an egg!"

"You're certainly one of the most excitable people I've ever met," Snivels said. He pointed to the Rathalos on Toothless's back. "Almost as bad as Ratha is."

Arachne looked at the baby Rathalos. "You named him Ratha? Cool!"

"There's also a baby Rathian around his age," Snivels explained as they resumed their walk to the academy, this time with Arachne accompanying them. "And a Nargacuga named Swift. I thought they'd flown away, but I'm starting to pick up their scent. They're at the academy."

Reaching up to pet little Ratha, Arachne said, "Well, since you named the Rathalos Ratha, why not name the Rathian Rathi?"

Snivels looked thoughtful. "Rathi..."

Yes, that name would suit her just fine. Better than fine, actually. It was near perfect.

Hiccup, however, had a different subject on his mind. "I wonder how the others are doing," he mused, stroking Toothless's muzzle.

* * *

 **Me: That is something that will be explored in the next chapter.**

 **Snivels: Don't keep us waiting too long!**

 **Ratha: Rawr! _Review!_**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Crossing Over

 **Me: Now to cover where the other two Trainers of Destiny, and their partners, ended up.**

 **Snivels: Well, that will certainly make some of us feel better. Arachne, pay attention, okay?**

 **Arachne: Of course, I'd love to see what your friends are like!**

 **Snivels: Let's just hope Ratha and Rathi can stay still long enough...**

* * *

Astrid Hofferson-Haddock was trained to be a natural warrior, without any fears. But it was hard to tell how high traveling through a dimensional rift to an unknown world ranked on that list. Even so, any thoughts of turning back were completely absent from her mind. Hiccup had once again put himself in possible danger to help a friend, and she had to find him and save him for the second time in the same week.

And the stakes were higher now that he was her husband. He'd basically vowed to spend the rest of his life with her, and she was definitely not planning on becoming a widow on their first day of marriage.

A squawk from Stormfly brought Astrid's attention to a light in front of them. They were nearing the end of the rift.

The next thing Astrid knew, they were near the ground and Stormfly had bumped into something. The Nadder tumbled as she regained her balance and landed in the middle of an open field. She looked back to find a boy about her age on the ground a few feet away. He looked a lot like Hiccup, but with more muscle and a Viking helmet settling on his head.

Astrid called out to the young man cautiously. "Are you okay?"

The teen turned to look at her and Stormfly. His eyes widened slightly at the sight of the two, but he quickly relaxed and picked himself up. "Don't worry, I've been through worse than this. I can handle getting run over by a Deadly Nadder."

 _I can see that,_ Astrid thought to herself. She wasn't into the burly type, and she was recently married, so the last thing she wanted to do was make this guy think she'd be interested in him.

"What exactly are you doing out here?" the young man asked. He had turned himself so that he was facing the girl on her dragon.

Astrid cautiously dismounted Stormfly, staying beside the Nadder in case the guy turned out to be hostile. "I'm looking for my friend. He disappeared, and I think he may be in danger."

That peaked the stranger's interest more than Astrid expected. "Your friend is in danger? What happened to him?"

Stormfly snarled at him, her tail spikes twitching. Astrid knew the dragon was as suspicious as she was. "It's hard to explain," she said, still remaining cautious. "Do you know if Berk is nearby?"

"Definitely," the stranger replied. "It's just a little ways north. Mind if I come and show you the way?"

Astrid didn't hesitate to shake her head. "I can handle myself just fine, Mister..."

"Hroar!" The young man blurted out before clearing his throat and speaking in a much calmer voice. "My name is Hroar." He then have a slight bow and extended his hand. "And you would be?"

Astrid knew the look he was giving her. It was the same one Snotlout wore every time she passed by, the one he gave her every time he tried (and failed) to flirt with her.

At least this guy had some respect for her personal space.

"Astrid," she answered, her voice displaying caution and the slightest hint of disgust.

Hroar withdrew his hand and smiled. "Divine Beauty. That's a very lovely name. So, I take it you live on Berk, since you seem to be interested in getting there. If you take me along, I can point you in the right direction."

Astrid started to roll her eyes before she noticed Stormfly curling protectively around her. A smile crept its way across her face as she got an idea.

* * *

Hroar yelled out as he dangled precariously above the ocean from Stormfly's grasp. The Nadder's talons were digging into his shoulders a bit, but he didn't mind as long as he didn't go plummeting into the cold, salty water below.

"This is NOT what I had in mind!"

Astrid looked down at him with a look of mock pity. "Sorry, but this is the only way we're carrying you." Stormfly gave a squawk of agreement.

That didn't make him feel any better. "Listen, I'm starting to think we may have gotten off on the wrong foot here. I'm Hroar of Knaff, it's one of those isles in the west, my father works in a slate quarry there. I know a lullaby he sang to me whenever he returned home, want to hear it?"

Before Astrid could answer, Hroar started speaking in a strange language she didn't understand. Stormfly suddenly started thrashing wildly, like she was trying to throw Astrid out of the saddle. Hroar screamed and stopped the so-called lullaby, grabbing onto Stormfly's leg in case she tried to drop him. The Nadder stopped thrashing and chirped an apology as she straightened out.

"Perhaps now isn't the best time for that," Hroar said, mostly to himself. "I'm aware that you must think I'm some sort of lunatic with no respect for personal boundaries. Do you know what I am?"

Astrid raised an eyebrow. "My punishment for being a pain in the butt to all my friends?"

Hroar made another noise she wasn't familiar with, but she could tell it was meant to indicate an incorrect answer. "Wrong. I'm the answer to all your prayers. Don't tell me you don't have someone you care about but doesn't do or even show anything to indicate they feel the same about you. Call me a disrespectful flirt if you must, but I'm pretty sure you need someone who really understands you, someone who knows what it's like to be a natural-born fighter."

"If you're trying to suggest that the person I love the most doesn't really love me back, then you're about to land yourself a free trip to the village of pain!"

That shut him up right then and there.

Astrid was certain that Hroar would have acted a lot differently if he had known he was trying to score with a married woman. But given the chance that she could have landed in the canon timeline, she decided it was too risky to let anyone know she was married.

When Berk came into view, Astrid gladly directed Stormfly to a nearby sea stack, where the duo literally dumped the irksome teenager.

Hroar picked himself off the ground for the second time to find the Nadder and her rider flying off without him. "Hay, wait a minute, where are you going? I take you to Berk and this is the thanks I get?!"

Astrid didn't bother to look back at him. One wrong word and he'd might end up knowing more than she wanted him to.

Hroar grumbled to himself as he watched her fly away. "Oh, somebody's gonna be sorry for this!"

* * *

Astrid had decided it was best to land Stormfly near the edge of the village, to avoid being spotted by anyone. If her counterpart was already in the village, and she landed in the middle of the plaza, it wouldn't be pretty.

Her suspicions were confirmed when she heard the sound of her own voice as she dismounted Stormfly. Thinking quickly, she ducked behind a nearby storehouse, with her loyal dragon friend following.

Sure enough, another Astrid walked out into the plaza with the other riders, minus Hiccup. HtBaT Astrid couldn't pick up exactly what her counterpart was saying, but she did hear, "Anyone seen Hiccup?" Deciding that it was okay to sneak a peek at what was going on, she looked around the corner of the storehouse. Despite what she had prepared herself for, there was nothing she could do to prevent the surprise of seeing another version of herself standing in the plaza with the other riders, one of whom was suggesting that Hiccup had gone on a flight. Astrid barely heard them, she had noticed something that wasn't quite as important, but that she found rather interesting.

"Does my hair really look like that from the back?"

The other Astrid turned her head to look around, prompting HtBaT Astrid to quickly duck back into her hiding place.

"What is it, Astrid?"

That was Fishlegs's voice, undoubtedly asking the other Astrid if she had noticed anything.

HtBaT Astrid prayed silently to Arceus that her counterpart hadn't seen her. Her answer came in the form of the other Astrid responding to Fishlegs's question. "I thought I saw...nothing, nevermind."

HtBaT Astrid let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. "That was close." Stormfly crooned nervously in agreement. The recently married young woman shifted her gaze to the Nadder.

"We should get out of here."

* * *

Heather and Windshear were having a bit more trouble than Astrid was. Their dimensional rift led them to a place that would make anyone think they were still in the Distortion World. With an open void and floating pieces of land, the only difference being that all of the lands were right-side-up.

Well, that, and there was something about the area that was far more eerie.

Windshear crooned worriedly as she shifted a little closer to Heather. The raven-haired girl laid a hand on the Razorwhip's side. "I have a bad feeling about this, too." She mounted the dragon, and was about to leave when a deep voice made them both freeze.

"Who dares to enter my domain?!"

Both rider and dragon turned around to find a massive, malevolent-looking beast standing behind them. The dragon seemed to be about ten times the size of Windshear, if not more so, with large horns protruding out of his head. There were iron-like bracelets on his front legs, and similarly designed spike at the end of his tail. The side of his neck had a constant effect of lava, making it hard to notice his violet coloration.

The large dragon reached over and plucked Heather off of Windshear's saddle, holding her up to his face as he examined her. "I don't know what you are, but no one crosses this land without getting away with it!"

It was hard not to notice a lava-like glow emitting from the inside of his mouth as he spoke.

It was surprising that Heather was still able to speak coherently after witnessing the shock of a large dragon that could talk like a human. "We don't want any trouble, we were trying to help a friend, and we got lost."

The dragon - Malefor - narrowed his eyes at the teenage girl. "Make excuses all you want, but no one can escape the Undead Dragon King!"

"No, wait!"

Malefor stopped. The protest didn't come from Heather. He turned his head to see a much smaller violet dragon that looked a lot less menacing than him flying over. "Cynder? What are you doing?!"

Cynder hovered in the air, hesitating before giving her answer. "Um...I'll deal with them!" She landed at the feet of the monstrous dragon. "It'll be good practice for my inheritance, right?"

Malefor chuckled. "Oh, finally taking after daddy now, are we? That's my girl!"

No one would have guessed that this creature was the father of the violet dragon that had just flown in. The two didn't seem to look alike at all.

Heather let out a scream as Malefor instantly released his grip on her. She would have hit the ground hard if Windshear hadn't caught her in the saddle. Cynder was beside the two shortly after. "Alright, get moving!"

Windshear hesitantly complied, knowing full well that she couldn't compete with the Undead Dragon King if she or Heather defied either him or his daughter. Heather straightened herself out in the saddle, shifting her gaze to the dragon that was escorting her and Windshear away from Malefor. Something seemed off about Cynder. "What are you doing?"

Casting a wary eye back at her father, Cynder answered Heather's question in a whisper. "Saving your life."

Unfortunately, it wasn't quiet enough for Malefor to not hear. The large dragon snarled angrily at his daughter.

Cynder froze, but kept her gaze on the two she had hoped to escort out of the Cadaverous Crypts safely. Unlike her father, she leaned more towards the side of good, and even had an interest in applying at an academy that housed the greatest heroes in their dimension. Knowing what was about to happen, the violet dragon whispered one more thing to Heather.

"Go."

Windshear took off just in time to avoid Malefor's claws grasping at them. Cynder was able to slip through thanks to her smaller size, leaving her father raging.

"You can't get away from me!"

Windshear barely avoided his claws as he swiped at them while they tried to fly away. They would have gotten lost if Cynder hadn't flown ahead to lead them in the right direction.

"Come on, the exit's over here!"

Facing the option of being at the mercy of an Undead Dragon King that was now spreading his wings so he could fly after them, Heather nudged Windshear gently to signal her to follow the violet dragon. The Razorwhip barely avoided Malefor's jaws as she took a hard left, following Cynder to where the smaller dragon knew the crypts led to a much more appealing sky-like void. After dodging a few floating rocks, Heather looked over her shoulder to find that Malefor had seemingly disappeared. "Did we lose him?"

Her question was answered in a way she definitely didn't like as the Undead Dragon King suddenly blasted his way through one of the largest of the floating rocks, sneering at the small group of girls. "I've got you now, trespassers!"

Heather let out a scream at the sight of the malevolent dragon that would most likely be haunting her nightmares for a while. Windshear heard her friend's scream and turned around so that she was facing Malefor. The large dragon looked a bit confused, but snarled. The Razorwhip then unleashed a barrage of spines from her telescopic tail, most of which collided with Malefor's snout. The larger dragon roared in pain, slowing down and lifting his claws to remove the spines lodged into his snout.

Windshear flipped back around, Heather patting her flank as they went to catch up with Cynder. "Thanks, girl."

The Razorwhip crooned, happy to have received the praise.

"So, where exactly are we going?" the raven-haired girl asked the violet dragon.

Cynder turned her head to look back at her two new friends.

"To the Skylands."

* * *

Blaze and Ninjark were a bit luckier than the other groups.

If "luckier" meant being sent into a bizarre, city world where the buildings looked like giant black spikes and everything ran on technology (which is nonexistent in the Viking age). But to them, it didn't.

A large tower emitting light stood in the center of the city, providing anyone who happened by outside the buildings with a light to guide them.

"I think I prefer the Distortion World," Blaze muttered.

Ninjark shrugged. "At least the ground here doesn't move around."

"Tell me about it."

Blaze and Ninjark both looked at each other. Neither of them had said that. They both turned to look over their shoulders to see a floating, purple Pokémon that wouldn't be out of place in an alien movie. The purple Pokémon lifted one of his digit-less hands and waved casually.

"Hi there."

Ninjark was too busy staring, so Blaze asked the question they both had. "Are you a local?"

The Poipole shrugged. "I suppose you could say that. The name's Adhesive."

Ninjark managed to pull himself together well enough to respond. "It's, uh...nice to meet you, Adhesive. We're..."

"Blaze and Ninjark," Adhesive finished.

Blaze gave him a suspicious look. "You know us?"

Adhesive laughed. "Yeah. This place is sort of like an extension of the Resistance. There isn't anyone here who doesn't know who you guys are. Hey, if you guys run into Fjord, can you tell him we're sorry we couldn't make it to the wedding yesterday? We've been pretty busy helping Drageist and Opal investigate the dimensional disturbances from here in Ultra Megalopolis."

"Okay, okay, we get it," Blaze said, a little impatient. "Look, we're in a hurry, so can you help us figure out a way to get back to our friends?"

Adhesive shook his head sadly. "Sorry, I can't help you."

Ninjark's shoulders slumped down.

"But I'm sure the Ultra Guardians can," Adhesive finished. "They're stationed in the Megalo Tower in the center of the city."

Both the Blaziken and Frogadier turned to look at the tall tower that was stationed at the very center of Ultra Megalopolis. Ninjark pointed. "You mean that one, way over there?"

Adhesive nodded. "Yep, that's the one."

Blaze folded her arms across her chest. "Not sure just how welcome we'll be here."

Adhesive chuckled. "Relax, you'll fit right in. Just try to look a little less stuck in the mud, okay?" He then started flying off in the direction of Megalo Tower, flicking his tail to signal the other two Pokémon to follow him.

Ninjark looked to Blaze, hoping the more experienced Blaziken would take lead of the situation. Realizing they didn't have any other choice, Blaze started following Adhesive, with Ninjark not far behind.

* * *

By the time Malefor recovered from Windshear's spine attack, his daughter and the two trespassers were nowhere in sight. He was about to roar out in anger when a portal appeared before him. Within it was a black figure, his face obscured by a hooded cloak.

The Undead Dragon King snarled. "What do you want, peasant?"

"I am no peasant," said the figure, his voice deep and raspy. "Call me the Mastermind. I am looking for villains to aid me in my plan."

Malefor's eyes narrowed. "And why do you think I would want to help some lowly creature like you?"

"Because, my friend, we both want the same thing," said the Mastermind. "Revenge. You were at war with a race of purple dragons, and now your daughter has defied you. I was close to gaining everything I could have dreamed, and some pathetic little excuse for a hero just messed it all up for me!" The Mastermind calmed down a little before continuing. "If you help me get my revenge, I promise I can help you get your daughter back and rule the Skylands with an iron claw."

If Malefor had eyebrows, he would have raised one with interest.

"I'm listening."

* * *

 **Me: And now you all know what was going on while Snivels and HtBaT Hiccup were meeting Batwings and MoB Hiccup.**

 **Arachne: And me!**

 **Snivels: And Ratha and Rathi.**

 **Me: Okay, I didn't have time to name everyone.**

 ***Ratha and Rathi start running around and making a mess***

 **Snivels: Be right back. *runs after them***

 **Arachne: I'll help. *follows him***

 **Me: Uh...review?**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Through a Servine's Eyes

 **Me: And back to the Monsters of Berk timeline we go!**

 **Snivels: For how long?**

 **Arachne: A while, I hope. I just have so many questions!**

 **Me: And I'm running out of good intro conversations. But I suppose I should mention that this story arc might focus a bit more on Snivels than on Hiccup.**

* * *

Let it be said that taking care of a baby Rathalos and Rathian wasn't very easy.

Now, Ratha wanted to play and Rathi wanted to be left alone. So when the little Rathalos came into the Academy looking to play a game with the Rathian, she ran off and he chased after her. It wasn't long before the two were practically running in circles around the arena, with Snivels chasing after them.

"Ratha! Rathi! Both of you, get back here!"

When the duo of infant monsters ran past Arachne, she joined in. "Come to your Aunt Arachne!"

Batwings stayed off to the side to avoid getting dragged into the chase. "I tried to warn you, that Rathalos is nothing but trouble."

The Siren's Qurupeco Monstie had a different view of the situation. "Ratha play tag with Rathi!"

MoB Astrid was standing in the entrance with the rest of the Monster Riders. Snotlout, of course, was just as much of a big shot as he was back in the HtBaT timeline. "Two Hiccups? This is officially the worst day ever!"

Fishlegs was more confused than surprised. "How did all of this happen?"

Ratha and Rathi ran past them at that moment, followed by Arachne. "Do you want the short version or the long version?" asked the ten-year-old.

A dark-haired teenage girl Snivels and HtBaT Hiccup weren't familiar with responded, "The short version."

Arachne stopped running and sucked in a breath before speaking rather quickly. "The Hiccup with the Night Fury and the Grass Snake lives in another world, and they all ended up getting sucked into our world by accident, so now they need a place to hunker down while they wait for a friend to come get them and bring them back home. Oh, and they also ran into Batwings and a few wild monsters on their way to the village."

MoB Astrid turned to the Siren that was standing a few feet away. "That explains why he's here."

Snotlout gawked at her. "You really don't believe any of that, do you?!"

"What other explanation could there be?" Fishlegs asked.

Tuffnut and Ruffnut looked dangerously thoughtful. "Maybe it's all just a dream."

Astrid shot the male twin an annoyed glare. "We're all having the same dream together?"

Snivels stopped chasing Ratha and Rathi and stood in front of the group of riders. "Oh, for Arceus's sake, if anyone cares to listen, I could use some help with those two!"

The only answer he got was from an arrogant Jorgenson teen. "I've had enough with baby monsters, so you and Useless go deal with them yourselves, you stupid snake."

Snivels's eyes flashed dangerously. "Alright, that's it!" He pointed at Snotlout. "You've got nothing to be proud of! Pushing people into the dirt, disrespecting your Monstie, and trying to gain the attention of a girl who's already in a relationship with someone who actually likes her for who she is! Now, normally, I can understand that, with you being a Viking and everything, but pawning off the responsibility of taking care of infant monsters to someone else, pay or no pay, is crossing the line, mister! Whether you may like it or not, there are people in this world that are better than you! Next to Hiccup, you're just another one of those Vikings that would be gifted to have even a quarter of a brain! The twins with one-eighth, of course, but that's beside the point! The only person you ever think to help is yourself, so if you're not going to do anything that will assist the rest of us here, then you'd better get up on that Tigrex and hightail it out of here, Snotface Jorgenstink!"

The long, stunned silence from everyone in the arena was eventually interrupted by the uproarious laughter of a certain ten-year-old girl. Arachne was literally rolling on the floor with laughter, clutching her stomach and pounding the ground with her fist. Before anyone could ask what was so funny, the girl wheezed, "Snotface Jorgenstink," before laughing harder.

Some of the other riders started snickering at the name while Snotlout scowled at no one in particular. Even Ratha and Rathi stopped for a chuckle.

Still laughing like there was no tomorrow, Arachne wheezed out, "That has...got to be the...funniest thing...I've ever...heard!"

"I have to say, it does suit him," Batwings said with a chuckle.

Snotlout looked angry enough for there to be smoke coming out of his ears. Never in his whole life had he been humiliated like this.

It was then that the Siren version of Heather arrived with her Seregios. "Batwings! Thank the Elder Dragons you're alright! When I couldn't find you on that island, I thought..." She stopped at the sight of Arachne rolling on the floor laughing, a very ticked-off Snotlout, a strange snake creature with leaves on his tail, and two Hiccups. Keeping a tight hold on the satchel that was slung over her shoulder, the beautiful Siren locked eyes with her mate. "What did I miss?"

The male Siren was by his beloved mate's side in an instant, leading back towards the entrance to the arena. "We're gonna need a minute."

Who knew how long it would take for him to explain the situation to her.

A shriek and a hiss brought Snivels's attention back to Ratha and Rathi. The Rathalos was hiding under Swift's wing while the Rathian was perched on one of the metal bars above the arena, her back to the young King of Skies and the Nargacuga protecting him. How she'd been able to fly up there despite being just hatched was beyond any reasoning.

The Servine prince groaned. "Would it kill you to stop being such a pain in the neck, Rathi?!"

Arachne, who had recovered from her laugh attack, came up beside him. Their eyes glued to the baby Rathian. "I read in the Book of Monsters that Rathians are typically more aggressive and territorial than Rathaloses."

Snivels shrugged. "Well, that does make sense when there's the possibility of a nest of eggs that needs protecting, but Rathi's just a baby! I mean, she's already acting like an adult, all high-strung, stubborn, striking but tough, and with a healthy does of vanity on the side."

Snotlout gave a laugh. "You sure you're talking about the Rathian?"

It didn't take long for Astrid to understand the implications of that statement, she gave the Jorgenson a good punch to the face for it.

Snivels glanced back at the teen with a now bleeding nose. "Yes, I'm pretty sure I was." He shifted his gaze to Ratha, who was now quite scared of Rathi due to her harsh attitude. "Poor Ratha only wants to make friends, and gets stuck with a female that's more concerned about her rep. Guess the life of a Rathalos isn't what you'd think."

The Servine was really talking to himself more than to anyone else in the arena, but Snotlout couldn't help but take a jab at it. "Yeah, sounds like Useless alright."

The next thing Snotface Jorgenstink knew, there was a throbbing pain coming from his little special place and a livid Astrid was storming away from him. Whimpering, he fell on his side and curled up in the fetal position, clutching his sensitive area.

MoB Hiccup had witnessed his girlfriend's aggressive reaction to defending his honor, wincing at the thought of someone's boot hitting him in that spot. "Was that really necessary?" he asked his girlfriend, who was now standing next to him and looking very satisfied.

Her answer was what he expected.

"No, but it was satisfying."

Snotlout let out another whimper of pain. "I think she broke my Khezu..."

Snivels couldn't help the look of disgust and slight confusion. "I don't know what a Khezu is, and I'm pretty sure I don't want to."

A growl from Rathi reminded him of why he was standing in that particular spot. He looked back up at the baby Rathian, who was wearing a bit of a snooty expression on her face. "Rathi! Will you stop causing all of this trouble?! Get down from there, NOW!"

The Rathian's response was turning her head over so she was looking at the Servine before baring her teeth and letting out a loud hiss. Though taken aback, Snivels remained firm, albeit with a bit of loss in his temper. "You naughty little...ugh!" Giving up, he sat down in the middle of the arena, with Arachne joining him. He turned to the ten-year-old girl. "Know anything else about Rathians?"

"Only that they're the female version of the Rathalos," Arachne replied. "I've heard a lot of people say that every Rathalos needs a Rathian, and it took me a while to figure it out."

Snivels looked thoughtful. "Rathalos and Rathian are the same species, but with different names, genders, and forms. Kinda like the Nidorino and Nidorina we know back in our world. Without either one of them, there'd be no offspring. The Rathalos can't lay eggs, and the Rathian needs a male suitor to properly reproduce. You can't have one without the other. It's as simple as that."

Arachne was stunned. "Wow. You may not know monsters like we do, but that was amazing!"

MoB Astrid and both Hiccups were lucky to witness Snivels's miniature speech about the Rathalos and Rathian. HtBaT Hiccup's mind instantly drifted to his Astrid (yes, _his_ Astrid), comparing their relationship to that of the Rathalos and Rathian.

MoB Hiccup was doing the same, but with MoB Astrid right beside him, he was approaching it in a different way.

"Hey, Astrid?"

"Yeah?"

If I...if I was a Rathalos, would you be my Rathian?"

He took her silence as a no, and was surprised when the girl with the Black Diablos unexpectedly started laughing. "Was that your version of a pickup line?"

Snivels instinctively turned to whoever was laughing at his trainer. Well, his trainer's counterpart, anyway. "It's not that funny, miss...whoever you are."

The girl looked rather offended. "It's Snaketail. Snaketail Grundenson."

Snivels looked surprised. "Snaketail?" When the girl nodded, he chuckled. "You know, your first name is the same as my last name. I'm Snivels Siebold Snaketail."

The conversation between the two was lost to both Hiccups. MoB Hiccup had a hard time believing he'd actually said that, while HtBaT Hiccup was rather impressed with his counterpart. Feeling the wedding ring on his finger, HtBaT Hiccup was about to walk over and comfort his counterpart when MoB Astrid did something unexpected.

Well, the punch in the arm was expected. But her request wasn't.

"Ask me again."

His heart beating faster than the wingbeats of a Gronckle, MoB Hiccup stuttered out the question.

"I-if I w-was a Rathalos, w-would you b-be my Rathian?"

HtBaT Hiccup took a few steps back in an effort to give his counterpart and MoB Astrid some form of privacy. Toothless and Sightless were right behind him, still as statutes and not making any noise so they could hear what was being said.

They didn't have to wait long, as Astrid gave MoB Hiccup a warm smile. "Yeah, I guess I would be." She then pulled him into a hug. Not just a friendly one, with only their upper half hugging. Astrid had her entire body pressed against him. The hug got more intimate when MoB Hiccup returned the embrace after recovering from the shock.

Toothless looked back and forth from the Hiccup that was hugging Astrid to the one standing next to him. The Night Fury let out a croon, and HtBaT Hiccup laid a hand on his muzzle.

"I know, bud, it's weirding me out, too."

Sightless crooned as well, but with that Gore Magala smile as he "watched" Hiccup interact with what Sightless knew was his rider's soul mate.

Snivels and the Monster Riders were watching it, too, Arachne squealing softly in joy. Snotlout, who was still curled up on the ground, and the Thorston twins looked ready to throw up, Fishlegs was leaning up against his Gravios, Heatray, and Snaketail was smirking. Batwings and Heather had just returned to the arena, walking in on the moment of intimacy, and were now holding each other's clawed hands.

After what felt like an eternity to MoB Hiccup (but was actually two minutes), Astrid pulled away, but still kept her smile. "We can continue this later." She paused, then gave him a friendly punch in the shoulder. "King of the Skies."

MoB Hiccup's heart did a flip at the nickname she'd just used. "O-okay, sure. Uh...I'd like that."

The moment was ruined by a disgusted Snotlout, who was now standing up, but still recovering from the kick to his little special place.

"Would it be insulting if I barfed everywhere?"

HtBaT Hiccup decided to answer that question. "Very much."

Snivels, meanwhile, had gone to greet Heather. "Hi, I'm Snivels. I'm a friend of Hiccup. No need to introduce yourself, I already know who you are, Heather."

The female Siren looked to Batwings, who nodded. Adjusting the strap of her satchel, she nodded. "Yeah, I get it."

Snivels glanced at the satchel she was carrying. "What's in there?"

Heather instinctively shielded the satchel from the Servine, but relaxed when Batwings put a clawed hand on her shoulder. The female Siren looked to her mate, who gave her a reassuring nod. Heather slowly brought the satchel back out into Snivels's view, setting it down on the floor of the arena and opening it.

Snivels's eyes were practically shining with awe at the sight of the satchel's contents. Sitting inside a bed of straw and long grass was a shining white egg. A Siren egg (though anyone who was stupid and greedy enough could easily mistake it for a Versa Pietru). Tears pricking at the corners of his eyes, Snivels reached out, then suddenly stopped and looked up at the expectant parents.

"May I?"

Batwings gave him a curt nod. "Just be careful."

Smiling, Snivels gently stroked the egg's smooth surface. He could have sworn he felt the dragonet moving in there...

Now that all the attention was off of her, Rathi finally flew down from her perch on top of the metal bars of the arena and started running for the exit. Snivels turned at the sound of her claws scraping against the floor and went to grab her. "Rathi, no!" He managed to get a firm hold on her, despite her thrashing. "You're not going anywhere until you apologize to Ratha!"

The Rathian's response was a bite to the Servine's leafy arm. Yelling out in pain, Snivels unintentionally released his grip on Rathi, leaving her free to run around wildly. Sightless blocked the exit while Astrid's Yian Garuga, Blackhawk, and Arachne tried to catch the naughty little Rathian.

Fed up with all the commotion, Snotlout, who was walking rather awkwardly, approached both Hiccups. "Could whichever of you that's affiliated with that snake thing tell him to take both of those stupid baby monsters elsewhere?!"

Even HtBaT Hiccup had to admit that Ratha and Rathi were causing more than enough trouble with their inability to get along without the Rathian making an angry fuss. When Snivels passed by carrying Ratha, the trainer pulled him aside to talk to him. "Listen, do you think you could take Ratha and Rathi someplace else? The last thing we need is some angry, complaining Vikings."

The Servine nodded before heading towards the exit. Swift had joined in the chase and caught Rathi by the scruff of her neck. The Nargacuga followed Snivels out the entrance to the arena. Arachne stopped to catch her breath after chasing the naughty little Rathian before running after them. "Hey, Snivels, wait for me!"

With the rambunctious younglings gone, Fishlegs went to fawn over the Siren egg. "Oh my Thor, I have never seen anything so...beautiful! I have got to add this to the book!"

Batwings shielded the egg with one of the appendages from which he had gotten his name. "Be careful around her."

The pudgy Ingerman stepped back. "Of course, female Sirens are very protective of their offspring. They're willing to fight to the death to protect their eggs. I'll keep my distance from Heather."

The Siren father-to-be shook his head. "Not Heather." He pointed a claw at the egg. "Our daughter."

Snaketail tried her best to get a good look at the egg from a safe distance. "How can you tell it's a girl?"

"Our newly-fledged parental instincts," Batwings replied.

The Thorston twins were also examining the egg, but a little too close than Batwings wanted them to. "So, Wings," Tuffnut said, "When the kid's old enough, can we go out and blow stuff up with him?"

Batwings sighed in frustration. "As long as you get back before dark."

Ruffnut looked angry. "Aw man, he's already talking like a parent!"

Both Hiccups were observing from the side with MoB Astrid. The Hofferson girl looked at them both before asking, "What's our relationship in the other world?"

Realizing that the question was directed at him, HtBaT Hiccup hid his left hand behind his back so she couldn't see the wedding ring. "You don't want to know."

* * *

Snivels and Arachne were outside the arena, in the space where all the Vikings in the village had gathered to see Hiccup kill a Tigrex, later Snotlout's Monstie Snotsnarl, only for him to train it instead. They didn't want to take Ratha and Rathi to the village, considering they'd probably end up wrecking the place.

A snarl from Swift brought Snivels's attention to her and Rathi. The Rathian was being held underneath the Nargacuga's left front paw, and her tail was being held up in the Flying Wyvern's jaws. Realizing what Swift was about to do, Snivels covered Arachne's eyes as best he could.

"Don't look, Arachne."

The ten-year-old looked confused. "Why, what's...?"

A loud lashing sound and a cry of pain interrupted her. Swift was using her tail to give Rathi a good spanking. After about five more lashes, the Nargacuga released the now remorseful Rathian.

Arachne pulled Snivels's hands off of her eyes. "How did you know she was going to do that?"

The Servine winced. "I've seen a fair share of dragon mothers discipline their young."

Walking a little awkwardly due to her sore rear end, Rathi approached Ratha. The baby Rathalos cowered a bit, but stayed put. Rathi looked back at Swift, who squawked warningly. Knowing the implications of that, the little Rathian cooed an apology to Ratha. The Rathalos responded by lowering himself into the same submissive pose from before.

He still wanted to play with her.

This time, Rathi responded by slowly lowering herself into the same pose. Eager to have gotten the answer he desired, Ratha jumped up and started running around before looking back at Rathi expectantly. The little Rathian ran after him, the game of chase now official.

Snivels and Arachne sat down next to Swift, watching the young hatchlings play.

"So, what's it like back in your world?" the ten-year-old asked.

Snivels shrugged. "Not that different from yours. But I have to admit, there are some things here that surprised me. Heather being a Siren, Hiccup and Astrid not being married yet, and then there's the Gore Magala. Not that I don't like Sightless, I appreciate his looking after Hiccup in a way similar to how Toothless and I have been."

That peaked Arachne's curiosity. "How did you and Hiccup become friends?"

He expected that question at some point. So he had an answer prepared.

"Vikings tend to judge by how things appear to be. They never bother to look inside and see someone or something for what it really is. All the Pokémon back in my world know it from experience. Dragons too. When I lost my family to Alvin and the Outcasts, it only fueled my hatred for Vikings and their battle-seeking nature. I'd never allow myself to be domesticated by a Viking. Always jumping to the obvious-but-wrong conclusions, looking for fights, never looking to see what lies inside. They're monsters.

"When I first saw Hiccup, I could tell he wasn't like that. He wasn't a Viking. He never was one. I saw him being mistreated, and I empathized with him. I often ran into Vikings who tried to have possession of me. Mainly to sell for money or make me fight their battles for them. Hiccup didn't go through anything like that, but we were both misunderstood and mistreated. I resolved to try and talk to him, tell him he wasn't alone. To do that, I had to learn to talk like a human. So, I taught myself how. See, Pokémon are all intelligent beings, but the only word they can pronounce is the name of their species. I was a Snivy at the time, so 'Snivy' was all I could say. When I started teaching myself how to talk, I started with something simple. Something that wasn't far off from the name of my species. My name, Snivels. That was the first word I said. It was harder than I thought it would be, but I did it. After that, it just kept getting easier and easier.

"When I officially met Hiccup, it was the day he shot down Toothless. Before nightfall, when there was yet to be a dragon raid. I talked to him. I opened up to him. I offered him my loyalty and friendship. We were practically inseparable after that. Even with all the Vikings that surrounded us, I stayed by his side. Doesn't mean I didn't hate his father, though.

"Stoick is someone you never win an argument with. Once he makes up his mind, there's no stopping him. When he thought he found the solution to ending the war against dragons, he took it. He didn't listen to anyone but himself. He disowned Hiccup as his son and took Toothless in chains. As much as he deserved to be killed by the Red Death for what he did, we knew letting that happen would make us no better than he was."

Arachne was stunned. "I...I never heard the story like that before. Stoick really was a jerk, huh?"

Snivels nodded. "Lots of Vikings are jerks. That's why we formed Team Go-Getters. We resolve to make lives better for dragons and Pokémon who've had it rough. We strategize instead of rushing into a problem headfirst. It's better to have an idea of what you're up against than to hit first and ask questions later. I'd never ask anyone to believe something they stand against, all I want from you, Arachne, is your understanding."

Arachne understood, of course. She just couldn't believe anyone actually had the guts to voice an opinion of Stoick like that. "You do have a point about the Vikings I've met. I'm hardly even a Viking myself, I'm just a kid. But if it were up to me, I'd rather be someone like you than a Viking."

Snivels smiled at her. "We always have a choice of who we become. The kind of person you grow to be is yours to choose, regardless of your parents' professions."

"You should tell Hiccup that," Arachne said. "He won't admit it, but I don't think he likes the idea of being chief one day."

The Servine prince nodded. "Yeah, I know. Telling Hiccup would be the easy part, though. Getting Stoick to listen to that sort of reason is like asking for an axe in your head."

Arachne giggled. "I've had axes and swords thrown at me, but I don't mind. It keeps things exciting!"

Snivels looked at her, impressed. "You know, Arachne, you've got spunk."

The ten-year old looked at him with curiosity. "Really?"

The Servine nodded. "Yeah, you do. You're sure you're not related to Astrid in some way?"

Arachne slouched in disappointment. "No, I wish I was. She's like the big sister I never had. I never told her, though, she's not usually the touchy-feely type. I'm surprised she said she'd be Hiccup's Rathian, you know, if he was a Rathalos and everything."

"You should tell her," Snivels said. "Friends can be family, too, you know." He then looked to Ratha and Rathi, who were resting next to each other after their game of chase. "I can certainly see a bit of Hiccup and Astrid in those two." He then looked back at her, a new question forming in his mind. "Do you have a Monstie?"

Arachne knew by now what the word "Monstie" meant. She shook her head, crestfallen. "I used to. A Remobra named Venomwing. She was one of the monsters locked in the arena before the war ended. I lost her yesterday to the Outcasts. We left Mildew behind by mistake and I was heading back to get him, but they shot her with an arrow."

Snivels stiffened with an obvious "oh, no" expression on his face. "You went back to get Mildew?" When she nodded, he let out a shaky breath. How in the world was he going to tell her? "Arachne, there's...something you might need to know. About Mildew."

Arachne shifted a little so she was facing him fully. "What is it?"

"Um..." Snivels didn't know where to begin at first. "Well, a friend of mine named Buddy told me what happened. He doesn't talk like I do, but I understand his language because he's a Pokémon, like I am. See, Buddy was with a group of powerful Pokémon that are part of this organization called the Resistance before he joined Team Go-Getters. He saved Hiccup from the Outcasts when they captured him and Toothless. Mildew was in the prison, too, but it was part of a trick. He was trying to feign remorse to gain Hiccup's trust so he could learn how to train dragons, and then pass that information on to Alvin. Buddy exposed the trick before Hiccup could take the bait, and they escaped the prison safely before we arrived to take them home. Given how the events in this timeline aren't that different from our own, I wouldn't be surprised if Mildew used the same trick on Hiccup in this world. From what you said, I fear he may have succeeded." He stood up and started heading for the entrance to the arena. "Come on, we've gotta warn them."

But Arachne didn't move. She just sat there, taking shuddering breaths as her brain registered all that Snivels had said. The Servine looked back at her when he realized she wasn't following him.

"Arachne?"

The girl took a few more shuddering breaths before she finally muttered out, "You're saying I killed her."

Snivels didn't hear her. "What?"

Tears started falling down Arachne's cheeks as she spoke louder. "You're saying I killed her."

Snivels's eyes widened, and he shook his head frantically. "No, Arachne, I never said that."

But she was too upset to hear him. "Oh my gods, I killed her! Venomwing's dead and it's all my fault! **_I killed my Monstie!_** " By now, a whole arsenal of tears was streaming down her cheeks.

Snivel was by her side instantly, a hand on her shoulder. "Arachne, it wasn't you fault..."

Arachne just shrugged him off and turning away. "Leave me alone!" She was sobbing now.

The last thing Snivels wanted to do was make Arachne blame herself for the death of her Monstie, all he wanted was to tell her the truth. To let her know what really happened. To help the Monster Riders know what they're up against and why.

A loud noise from the direction of the village brought Snivels's attention away from his new friend's predicament. Dark purple and blue strip-like portals were opening around the village, with a sort of ripping sound emitting from them as they opened.

Dimensional rifts.

* * *

 **Me: Ten dollars says Cotton laughed at the Khezu joke.**

 **Snivels: Who are you betting with?**

 **Me: I don't know, I'm just confident he got the joke. Where's Arachne?**

 **Snivels: Not in the ending conversation this time. Too upset.**

 **Me: At least you told her the truth. Maybe you can cheer her up with Snotface Jorgenstink.**

 **Snivels: I doubt that. But on the bright side, I love how you keep making connections between Ratha and Rathi and our favorite couple.**

 **Me: What can I say? I'm a nerd and I'm proud!**

 **Rathi: Rawr! _Review!_**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Getting the Team Back Together

 **Me: Good news. New chapter!**

 **Snivels: Bad news. Arachne's still upset.**

 **Me: Yeah, but that'll be fixed soon. I'm sure of it.**

 **Snivels: Getting tired of there just being two of us doing intros and outros!**

* * *

Astrid and Stormfly had just made it to the cove where Hiccup trained Toothless. If there was a Toothless in the timeline they were in, of course. When the blonde warrior dismounted her dragon, Drageist appeared through a portal. The Giratina was in his Altered Forme.

"I though I might find you here."

Astrid knew he meant the cove, not the timeline. "Any idea what timeline this is?"

"I know exactly which timeline this is," Drageist said, a hint of concern in his voice. Seeing the question of why he sounded like that in Astrid's eyes, he continued. "This is the canon timeline. Astrid, I must know, did your counterpart see you?"

Astrid shook her head. "I saw her while I was hiding. She almost saw me, but I got away."

Drageist promptly let out a sigh of relief. "Good. There's no telling how the timeline would have been affected by your counterpart seeing you. Even still, we have more pressing concerns. That villain I mentioned earlier is launching an attack on one of the alternate timelines, and that's where your Hiccup is."

Now, the idea of him being "her" Hiccup was romantic in on itself, but Astrid knew full well what Drageist had meant by that. The Hiccup from their timeline was in trouble.

"Where are the others?"

"Alternate dimensions," Drageist replied. "We can stop and pick them up on our way. If the attack is anything like I think it will be, then we're going to need all the help we can get."

That made Stormfly squawk nervously. She didn't mind a fight, but when it came to her rider's safety, things were bound to get messy.

Astrid patted her dragon friend on the snout before giving Drageist a determined look.

"Let's go."

* * *

Heather and Windshear, who had landed on one of the smaller floating island, were still panting heavily from the experience with Malefor. Cynder was still with them, which was good because Heather had some questions for the violet dragon. "You're sure that guy is really your father?"

Cynder shrugged her wings. "He's the only family I've ever known."

The raven-haired girl dismounted her Razorwhip friend. "Yeah, well, for the record, you don't look anything like him."

It was true, nothing about Cynder even came close to resembling Malefor. For all Heather knew, there wasn't any solid proof that said her new friend was the Undead Dragon King's biological daughter.

Fortunately for Heather, Cynder actually smiled at her comment. "That actually makes me feel a little better. I'm not really into doing bad like my father, but you might have noticed that already."

Windshear finally had the time to walk up and examine the violet dragon that could talk like a human. The Razorwhip circled Cynder, sniffing and growling cautiously as she tried to figure out what kind of dragon she was.

Cynder was equally curious. "I have never seen a dragon like you before."

"Because we're not from this world," Heather said. "We were trying to help a friend, and ended up here by accident. I'm Heather, and that's Windshear."

At that moment, Windshear decided that Cynder was a friend and nuzzled her whilst making a noise that sounded like she was purring. The violet dragon looked both confused and disturbed. "Do all the dragons in your world act like this?"

Heather shook her head. "Not all the time. What are the dragons like here? Besides you and your dad, of course."

"His name is Malefor," Cynder said. "And all dragons here are capable of elemental powers. I haven't found mine, yet, though. Do you mind if I tag along? I'm hoping to enroll at the Skylander Academy, and you look like you could use a guide."

Before Heather could answer, Drageist suddenly appeared in a portal nearby. The Raven-haired girl looked relieved. "I was wondering when you'd show up."

"I'm afraid there isn't time for chitchat," Drageist said. "There's an attack on one of the alternate timelines, and we need your help."

Cynder was quite fascinated with the sudden appearance of a being from another world. "Can I come, too? I've always wondered what it was like to be a hero."

All Drageist did was take one look at the violet dragon before smiling.

"Of course."

* * *

At first glance, the Megalo Tower looked like a simple construction. Little did Blaze and Ninjark know, the tower housed the most advanced technology in any dimension.

Too bad they didn't know what the word "technology" meant.

Lucky for them, Adhesive was aware of that fact.

"Now, I'm aware that you two aren't familiar with technology, so I'll try to keep it simple. The Megalo Tower houses all of the main power generators, like, say, a Pikachu getting electricity from the pouches in its cheeks."

Ninjark smiled a little. "That analogy does help."

By that time, they had entered the tower. The whole building was flowing with futuristic technology, from handheld communication devices to more complicated equipment like holographic training exercises. Odd-looking Pokémon big and small walked, crawled and hovered across the floor like businessmen heading to work. One particular Pokémon that looked like a humanoid mosquito on steroids slowed down a little to shift his insectoid gaze to the newcomers.

Ninjark shuddered at the sight of the giant insect. "I had nightmares like this."

"Don't tell me your afraid of bugs," Blaze grumbled. She'd seen a fair share of young children in the Berk village get startled by spiders.

Ninjark shook his head. "Just the ones that bite or sting. Once, I ran into a tarantula and climbed up onto another Pokémon's shoulders and stayed there until it went away."

Adhesive couldn't help but chuckle. "Don't worry, our security system is off the charts around here. Except for when we got a computer virus last week, all the tech was down for more than forty hours before we solved the problem."

Just then, the intercom went off. " ** _Adhesive, please report to the main control room immediately._** "

The Poipole jumped a little, but relaxed after the message ended. "Well, I guess now I can show you two where I work."

That was how Blaze and Ninjark found themselves inside a contraption Adhesive said was called an "elevator." The tube they were traveling through was made of glass, leaving them with a full view of the outside through the windows of the tower.

"Scary as it may be to first timers, it is better than taking a long flight of stairs," Adhesive said.

When the elevator slowed to a stop and the doors opened, Blaze and Ninjark found themselves stepping out into a room that could very well have been the motherlode of all technology. Odd-looking Pokémon were all over the room, sitting at computers and typing and clicking like mad. Adhesive hovered in front of them and gestured around the room.

"This is where we do all of the business work and the security monitoring. It's also a good place to go if you wanna do some online gaming." He stopped by a computer station he had been using before Blaze and Ninjark had arrived, glancing at the screen before yelling out in annoyance. "Hey! Who cast a sleep spell on me and stole all my gold?!" He sighed before continuing the tour to an area where a giant window made up an entire wall, giving anyone passing by a view of the lower floor. "Anyway, since most of the work we do around here is done with the aid of technology, we've more time to devote to relaxing and having fun."

The floor below them served as a recreational area, which was proven by the activities that were being done there. A small group of Buzzwole were wrestling with some Pheromosa watching with interest, a Kartana was throwing darts at a dartboard, a pair of Blacephalon were playing a game of pool, four Xurkitree were playing a video game console, a Nihilego was taking a nap along with a Stakataka, and a Guzzlord was eating an entire vending machine filled to the brim with tasty snacks.

Blaze looked skeptical. "This is what you guys call having fun? I mean, Vikings don't know squat about what's fun, but would it kill you to go without all of this techno...stuff?"

"Technology," Adhesive corrected. "And we are capable of going without it. Mondays and Thursdays are Retro Days, we go without all our tech for twenty four hours."

A set of doors then opened, revealing a Pokémon whose entire structure appeared to be made out of a black crystalline material. "Adhesive, we need to call out Code White."

The Poipole turned to face the newcomer. "I'm on it, Kuro." He quickly flew over to a large projector machine that was specially built to broadcast across all the dimensions in the Multiverse. At Kuro's signal, Adhesive pressed a button that turned the projector on, causing the image of the black Pokémon to appear all throughout the Multiverse.

"My name is Kuro. Some of you may know me as the Legendary Pokémon Necrozma, but today I am everyone's ally. All of our worlds are in danger. A conspiracy of villains is seeking revenge on those who have defeated them, and it will take all our forces to stop them. Divided, we fall. But together, we stand and fight as one. The Multiverse is counting on all of its heroes. So help us save it."

Adhesive cut the broadcast. "Well, that's the easy part done."

"Easy part of what?" Ninjark asked.

The Poipole turned to face the Frogadier. "Code White is a last resort method of gathering all the heroes in existence to face a threat that puts all of the Multiverse at risk. First, we send out a message, and then we gather everyone willing to fight and create a battle plan."

Blaze suddenly spotted a printed picture of a frightening-looking creature on a nearby table. The creature's back was turned so she couldn't see its face, but she could tell it was draconic. She picked up the photo and showed it to Adhesive. "What is this?"

Adhesive shrugged. "We don't know. We caught a photo of it as it was leaving one of the other dimensions." He hovered over to the computer he had been using for the online game. "Last week, our system got infected with a computer virus. After we got it fixed, we found that someone had hacked into our system. We all did some research and found some files left over from the virus and hacking incident. Whoever's behind the creature has been experimenting with Red Death and Fatalis DNA. Hold on, I've got a video!"

The Poipole pressed a few keys before the computer screen started loading. A minute later, the screen showed some footage Adhesive had gathered from a security camera from somewhere in Ultra Megalopolis. An enormously large creature, about the size of the Red Death, was weaving though the buildings with a long, albeit bulked, serpentine body. The creature's skin was colored dark, its body covered with the familiar spikes of the Red Death, and its four legs were much too thick for an ordinary Fatalis. Its wings resembled that of the Red Death, but with more of a dark purple-ish tint to them. Its tail was longer than that of the queen dragon, but it still had the spiked club at the end. About five seconds into the clip, the creature turned its face towards the camera. Its face resembled that of a Fatalis, but its lower jaw was that of the Red Death, and the familiar frill-like horns of the queen dragon decorated the back of its head. But the most frightening feature about the hybrid's face was its eyes. It had eight eyes, six resembling those of the Red Death, and two from the Fatalis. The creature roared at the camera before firing a blast of flames that turned out to be a combination of the breath attacks of both creatures of its origin. The flames made contact with the camera, and then there was static. Obviously the dragon-monster hybrid had destroyed the camera.

The entire video had been mute.

Blaze had no experience with videos, but she could tell what was missing. "Where's the sound?"

Adhesive shook his head. "We were lucky enough to get the picture. Whoever's been working on this has made sure to cover up their tracks, keep it top secret."

It was at that moment that a portal opened, revealing Drageist, along with Astrid, Stormfly, Heather, Windshear and an unfamiliar, violet dragon. The Giratina looked to his Necrozma friend.

"There isn't much time."

* * *

Snivels had seen Kuro's broadcast in the sky above the alternate timeline version of Berk.

And so had the Monster Riders.

As confused as they all were, Snotlout did manage to throw in a typical Jorgenson move. He leaned back against his Tigrex Monstie and both Hiccups a lazy look.

"I'm pretty sure he was talking to you, Useless."

Snotsnarl chose that moment to move away, leaving his arrogant rider falling backwards into the dirt.

Snivels ran in with Ratha and Rathi close behind. Swift also flew in, carrying a still tearful Arachne on her back. "Guys, we need to do something! There are dimensional rifts everywhere!"

MoB Hiccup didn't know what a dimensional rift was, but he was sure it was quite dangerous. "We need to make sure everyone in Berk is safe." He then mounted Sightless. "Everyone mount up, defensive maneuvers!"

HTBaT Hiccup shook his head as he mounted Toothless. "Never thought I'd be taking orders from myself..." The Night Fury crooned in agreement.

MoB Astrid was mounting her Yian Garuga Monstie, Blackhawk, when she noticed Arachne. "What's wrong with her?"

Snivels looked nervous. "Well, she's kind of upset because she feels responsible for Venomwing's death because she went back to get Mildew, who I believe tricked Hiccup into revealing some tips on training monsters so he could pass that information on to Alvin and the Outcasts."

First, there was silence, and then...

" _ **WHAT?!**_ "

The unearthly scream had come from an infuriated Snaketail, who directed her Black Diablos, Twinhorn, towards the exit. Both Monstie and rider departed into the sky, most likely heading for Outcast Island to give Alvin and Mildew what for. They stopped, however, when a blast of flames from near the village nearly struck them out of the air.

HTBaT Hiccup decided to take the lead before anything else happened. "Listen, I've experienced these rifts before, and as weird as it is for me to take and give commands from and to myself, I need you all to trust me on this. We don't know for sure what we could be up against, so follow both of our lead."

MoB Hiccup nodded in thanks. They could figure out how to deal with Snaketail's temper later.

A nervous and concerned Fishlegs walked up on his Monstie, a Gravios named Heatray. "What about Arachne?"

Indeed, the ten year old girl was still sniffling. Occasionally, she would lift a hand to wipe away her tears.

"She'll be okay," MoB Hiccup replied. "She just needs a little time."

Snivels approached his depressed, and relatively new, friend. "I'll stay here with her, you guys go."

Now, HTBaT Hiccup didn't want to leave his friend behind, but Arachne was in dire need of comfort. It wasn't long before both Hiccups and the rest of the Monster Riders were in the air. Nine Monsties and a dragon.

Ratha and Rathi stayed behind with Swift and Snivels, of course. Baby monsters were safer in the presence of adults.

Arachne slowly dismounted the motherly Nargacuga, pulling out a Remobra fang from out of her pocket. Snivels noticed. "I'm guessing that was Venomwing's."

The girl nodded.

The Servine Prince went to stand next to her, keeping his eyes on the fang. "Arachne, when I lost my family, I never fully got over it. But that didn't stop me from finding new friends I knew I could count on. There are plenty more dragons in the air. If you really want to be a Monster Rider again, you can find yourself a new Monstie. I'm sure it's what Venomwing would want you to do."

Arachne didn't respond. She just kept looking at the Remobra fang.

Snivels nodded in understanding. "I get it, you need to be alone. If you ever need help, just ask." With that, he headed to the other side of the arena.

Arachne's eyes were drawn from the fang she was holding to the sound of friendly growls and squeaks. Ratha and Rathi were playing a game of chase. Arachne couldn't help but give a small smile. The two young monsters really were acting a lot like Hiccup and Astrid. Based on what Snivels told her earlier, Ratha was kind to Rathi but she was ignorant and prideful. Sure, Astrid never got spanked by a Nargacuga, but both she and Rathi had changed for the better. Now Ratha and Rathi were inseparable. But, of course, they were far too young to be mates.

But they were just the right age to be playmates.

The girl's brief moment of happiness ended when her eyes fell on Venomwing's fang once again.

* * *

The hooded figure that called himself the Mastermind looked on at the monsters that were being unleashed into the MoB timeline by the crazy old doctor he had hired to be one of his lackeys. He'd promised the man with the one metal hand that he would help him create something called a Kinship Stone, but little did the doctor know he had no intention of keeping that promise.

Nor did he intend to help Malefor get Cynder back.

The Mastermind was cunning and manipulative, always lying and making false promises to trick others into helping him accomplish his goals.

And the tall man with the cane that was standing next to him was no exception.

"That old coot may be a more minor threat," the Mastermind uttered, "But he does know how to draw heroes out of hiding."

The man with the cane looked stern. "So long as you don't forget our agreement, Mastermind. I don't work for free, you know."

The Mastermind chuckled. "But of course. You help me get what I want, and I'll make sure your greatest wish is granted."

The two Hiccups and the Monster Riders arrived not long after. HTBaT Hiccup let his counterpart take the reigns, since he was more experienced with dealing with wild monsters.

"Okay gang, keep them away from the buildings. We can't let anyone get hurt, especially those monsters!"

The three villains took this as their cue to step out through the rift and into the open. "Are you sure you have your priorities straight?" the Mastermind asked.

The riders all looked shocked.

The Mastermind nodded to Dr. Manelger, signaling him to engage his monsters.

Finally, the riders noticed something off about the monsters. They had armor on their bodies. Metal armor that was manmade. Unexpectedly, an armored Barroth blasted a stream of fire straight at Tuffnut and his Teostra, King. Normally, Teostra were resistant to fire, but the shock of the fire coming from a Barroth, who couldn't do such a feat under normal circumstances, knocked the Elder Dragon out of the sky and through the roof of a nearby house.

Completely ignoring her brother's predicament, Ruffnut looked at the Barroth with interest. "I didn't know those guys could breathe fire!"

Fishlegs whimpered. "Because they can't!"

Snaketail, whose anger at Alvin and Mildew's treachery was forgotten for the moment, called out to the male Thorston. "Are you okay, Tuffnut?"

His response was far from what anyone expected.

"FINLAND!"

Yep. He had a concussion, all right.

A roar from the armored Tigrex brought their attention back to the rampaging monsters.

HTBaT Hiccup suddenly spotted something from out of the corner of his eye. He turned to see a portal opening above them, with Drageist appearing in the middle. The Giratina smiled.

"As a certain Servine once said, Go-Getters unite!"

The portal widened, allowing the others whom Drageist had brought with him to emerge. Astrid and Blaze flew in on Stormfly. Heather and Ninjark flew in on Windshear, with Cynder following. Adhesive and Kuro emerged as well, launching Venoshock and Prismatic Laser at the armored monsters.

HTBaT Hiccup smiled as his Astrid flew up next to him on her faithful Deadly Nadder. "I was beginning to wonder where you were."

"Why? Did you miss me?" was his wife's playful reply.

Dr. Manelger was momentarily stunned before he started shouting an order to his assistant, who was hiding in the back with a piece of machinery. "Itsy-Bits, direct those monsters at the newcomers! We can't afford anyone getting in the way!"

The oddly-dressed, buck-toothed boy saluted his master. "Yeth thir, Mr. Dr. Manelger, thir!" He lifted the device he was holding and pressed the button. Sparks flew out from the device before it let out a loud *pop* and went up in smoke.

"That'th not good..."

The armored monsters all shook their heads and looked dazed, as though they were all waking up from a long dream. They had all been mind-controlled by Dr. Manelger. And now they were free.

But they were also really, really mad.

The Barroth was charging, the Tigrex was climbing onto the roofs and roaring at the top of its lungs, Itsy-Bits tried to round up the armored Aptonoth only to nearly be eaten by the armored Agnaktor.

MoB Hiccup turned to all the heroes present. "Okay guys, we need to get those monsters out of here. Draw them away from the village!"

Drageist fly up in front of them. "Allow me to assist you. I can send them all back where they came from with my portals."

The leader of the Monster Riders stared at the strange and somewhat frightening creature in front of him while Sightless snarled warningly. "Who are you?"

"A friend," Drageist said simply.

MoB Hiccup quickly realized that he had to trust this being. He signaled the Monster Riders, who all directed their Monsties into dive formation at the rampaging, armored monsters. Team Go-Getters soon followed with the dragons, including Cynder. The armored monsters all roared and tried to fight, but their attacks all missed their marks.

The Mastermind turned to Dr. Manelger. "You said you could control them!"

The doctor flinched. "How could it be? A miscalculation in my research?!"

The Mastermind snarled before turning to the man with the cane. "I hope you're a good deal more successful than this old coot and his lispy lackey."

The man smiled evilly. "Not to worry. I'm sensing a powerful feeling of sadness. A young girl who feels responsible for the demise of her best friend. The perfect target for my akuma!"

The man held out his hand, and a pure white butterfly flew out from the dimensional rift that was still open behind the villains. The butterfly landed in the man's outstretched hand, prompting him to cover it with his other hand. A dark power soaked into the butterfly, turning it a dark purple with a white pattern. The man removed his hand, allowing the butterfly to take to the air.

"You've all that you need to evilize her!"

His akuma didn't go unnoticed. Kuro spotted the dark butterfly heading in the direction of the Academy. He turned to Adhesive. "Stop that akuma!"

The Poipole caught sight of the butterfly filled with dark power and flew off towards the Academy, staying slightly ahead of the akuma. He arrived first, but the akuma arrived soon after.

Snivels was surprised at the appearance of the new Pokémon and the odd butterfly. "What's going on?"

Panting heavily, Adhesive pointed to the dark powered butterfly. "It's an akuma! It holds dark energy, so don't let it touch you!"

His shouts brought Arachne's attention off of the Remobra fang in her hand. The akuma was heading for her.

Snivels and Adhesive noticed. "Arachne, don't let it touch you, it's evil!" the Poipole shouted.

That made the girl recoil at the sight of the dark butterfly. She backed away, but the akuma followed her. In an effort to defend herself, she threw the Remobra fang at it. The akuma made contact with the fang and was absorbed into the object as it clattered to the floor of the arena.

Arachne fell to her knees, holding her head as the image of the man with the cane appeared in front of her eyes. "No! Please, stop! Venomwing means a lot to me, but not this! I won't be forced to do evil!"

The man looked taken aback. "Who said anything about doing evil? I want to help you avenge your friend."

Adhesive and Snivels couldn't see or hear the man, but they could tell Arachne was troubled. The Servine Prince called out to his friend. "Arachne, breath deeply and focus!" He turned to Adhesive. "What do we do?!"

The Poipole didn't get a chance to answer as Arachne suddenly calmed down and stood up. She looked straight at the two Pokémon, her expression grim.

Ratha and Rathi stopped their game of chase as Swift curled around them protectively.

Adhesive gasped. "This isn't good."

The man continued to telepathically speak to Arachne.

"Sirenide, I am Hawk Moth. I'm giving you the power to give people a venomous surprise. In return, you must do something for me."

Inside her head, Arachne was screaming no at the top of her lungs, but Sirenide smiled evilly. "I'll do whatever it takes to avenge Venomwing!"

She reached out and grabbed the akumatized Remobra fang, putting it in her pocket. Instantly, her formed changed. She became more Remobra-like, with a yellow and blue-ish purple coloration, her arms became wings and her mouth was filled with fangs.

Adhesive gasped once again. "We're too late!"

Snivels could do nothing but stare into the blood red eyes of what was once his new friend.

Then, Sirenide lunged.

* * *

 **Me: And I'm leaving it off on a cliffhanger! Thought I really hate to leave Arachne like this.**

 **Snivels: Well, at least we're not the only ones in the intros and outros anymore.**

 **Ninjark: Good to be back.**

 **Blaze: It's been a while.**

 **Adhesive: Review, please!**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: First Confrontation

 **Snivels: Okay, let's hurry up and get Arachne back to normal!**

 **Me: Couldn't have said it better myself, Snivs.**

 **Ninjark: And what about those villains?**

 **Blaze: Guess it's our job to handle them.**

* * *

Snivels cried out as Sirenide lunged at him, her fangs inches from his face. "Arachne, this isn't you! Snap out of it!"

The new villainess sneered at the Servine. "My name is Sirenide, you fool!" She then drew back and fired a ball of venom at Snivels. He was lucky that Adhesive was there, because he fired his own poison to block Sirenide's attack.

The girl-Remobra hybrid turned to the Poipole, who showed no signs of fear. "We don't wish to fight you, Arachne."

Sirenide responded by lunging at him, but Adhesive dodged her attack. "Remember who you are!"

For a brief moment, the he villainous hybrid's eyes changed back into those of Arachne before they regained their red coloration. "I already know who I am!"

Even from across the island, Hawk Moth could sense conflict within Sirenide. "Don't let anything they say stop you! Come to me!"

In response, Sirenide spread her wings and flew out of the arena, laughing evilly.

Adhesive watched Sirenide leave until he couldn't see her retreating form any longer. "It looks like she's headed for the village plaza."

"Then that's where we're going!" Snivels said as he mounted Swift. The Nargacuga had been protecting Ratha and Rathi from the akumatized villain until the latter had left the arena. Snivels waited until the baby Rathalos and Rathian were also on Swift's back before he nudged her gently, signaling takeoff.

It was time to save his new friend.

* * *

The Go-Getters and Monster Riders who were fighting in the plaza where unaware of the akuma situation. The were more interested in not falling victim to rampaging monsters covered in armor.

The Mastermind was not pleased with how the fight was turning out. "Some mad doctor claims he can control these monsters?! That's the last time I hire an old geezer! I'll dispose of those riders myself!" He reached into his cloak and pulled out a yellow, pointed object.

A Griseous Orb.

Dr. Manelger noticed. "Wait a minute! You promised you'd help me create the Kinship Stones!"

"That was before you failed me," the Mastermind replied, holding the Griseous Orb high above his head. Dimensional rifts appeared near Dr. Manelger, Itsy-Bits and the armored monsters.

The metal-handed doctor turned to the Mastermind. "What are you doing?!"

"Let's just say your services are no longer required," was the Mastermind's reply before the two humans and the armored monsters were sucked into the rifts before they disappeared.

Drageist had been watching the whole time while Team Go-Getters and the Monster Riders had been fighting the armored monsters. "He has Opal's Griseous Orb!"

The Mastermind looked up at the Altered Forme Giratina, his eyes hidden under the cloak. "Don't think you'll be getting it back that easily!" He summoned another dimensional rift, which materialized behind him and Hawk Moth.

Drageist went to grab the Griseous Orb from the Mastermind, but stopped when Sirenide suddenly appeared out of nowhere and tackled him. She wasn't nearly strong enough to make the Giratina flinch, but he did stop to try and shake her off.

Snivels and Adhesive soon arrived with Swift and the baby monsters. MoB Hiccup flew up next to them on Sightless. "What's going on?"

The Servine didn't hesitate to answer. "I was trying to help Arachne feel better about what happened to Venomwing."

MoB Astrid was suddenly there on Blackhawk. "Why is she half Remobra?"

Flinching at the accusational tone in the Hofferson's voice, Snivels gave the couple a guilty look. "I didn't say things were going well."

A loud growl sounded from the dimensional rift behind the Mastermind. The cloaked villain chuckled. "Perhaps it's about time I introduced my friend." He turned to the dimensional rift behind him. "Come forward, my Red Fatalis!"

On cue, an enormous, ugly creature squeezed its way through the rift, its eight eyes striking fear into all who were witnessing its arrival.

"That's the creature from the video!" Adhesive exclaimed. "The Red Death and Fatalis hybrid!"

The Mastermind chuckled. "The combined power of two versions of Hiccup's enemy! Quite a beauty, isn't she?"

Adhesive dropped his usual amazed fanboy act and glared at the cloaked villain. "You know we all saw her die in the first movie!"

"You fools!" the Mastermind shouted out. "This time it's your turn to be roasted alive!" He then looked up at his creation. "Alright, my sweet, grab the boy and take care of the rest of those pathetic marplots!" He stepped off to the side, making sure to leave the dragon-monster hybrid a lot of space.

The Red Fatalis faced the majority of heroes who were all frozen in fear at the sight of it and roared loudly. Even the facial-emotionally-challenged Sightless flinched at the dragon-monster hybrid's vocalizations.

Snotlout, however, wasn't fazed much. "We'll show that freak what a real roar is like! Snotsnarl!"

The Tigrex took the signal to roar loudly at the Red Fatalis, releasing a soundwave from his open jaws. The soundwave struck the Red Fatalis in the chest area, but the dragon-monster hybrid stood tall and firm.

Snotlout couldn't believe what he had just witnessed. "It's not even flinching!"

Batwings was also quite stunned as he examined the hybrid from his position on Mocktalk's back. "I've seen plenty of dragons and monsters in my lifetime, but nothing like this!"

His Qurupeco Monstie agreed. "Very scary!"

The Red Fatalis was paying no attention to them. One of its many eyes caught sight of HtBaT Hiccup riding on Toothless. Remembering that her master was after a scrawny, one-legged hero, she lashed out and plucked the boy out of the Night Fury's saddle with her claws before encasing him in her mighty paw. Without Hiccup to control the prosthetic tailfin, Toothless crashed to the ground soon after.

Normally, Astrid (both MoB and HtBaT) would have gone in straight away for a rescue, but the sight of the Red Fatalis made both counterparts freeze. Maybe it was the hybrid's eight, piercing eyes. Maybe it was the orange and dark red flames flickering between its teeth. But most likely, it was the memory of Hiccup falling towards the flames of the explosion used to kill both versions of the gigantic beast.

The Astrid that was riding on Stormfly managed to bring herself to her senses, nudging the Deadly Nadder forward towards the Red Fatalis. She and Hiccup had just married, and she had no intention of losing him like this.

"Stormfly, spine shot!"

The Nadder obeyed her rider's command, firing a flury of poison spikes from her tail. The spikes made contact with the Red Fatalis's head, but the creature only flinched when one of the spines came dangerously close to one of its eight eyes.

Snivels, meanwhile, was trying to talk some sense into the akumatized Arachne. "You know you don't want to do this, Arachne, this isn't you!"

The girl-Remobra hybrid snarled. "I told you, I'm not Arachne. I'm Sirenide!"

"That's not who you are!" Snivels shouted. "That's just how you feel! This isn't going to bring Venomwing back, so stop!"

That was as far as he got before he was pinned to the ground by his evilized friend.

Ratha and Rathi both whimpered at the sight, prompting Swift to lift her wing over them protectively.

Sirenide snarled at Snivels, but he only looked her in the eye. "I know you're still in there, Arachne. Look into your heart and remember all the good times you spent with Venomwing!"

Sirenide hesitated. Arachne was trapped inside her head, fighting against the negative emotions that had caused her to become the akuma's target. She didn't want to hurt her friends, she was too kindhearted for that.

Hawk Moth could sense her inner conflict. "What are you doing? Stop wasting time and finish them off!"

But Sirenide wasn't listening. Snivels's advice to remember the good times she spent with her Monstie had struck a cord. Her negative emotions began to weaken as she remembered the fun she had with Venomwing.

* * *

 _Arachne and Venomwing were hiding in the bushes, watching quietly as Hiccup and Astrid stood before then out on the bluff. The sun was setting, leaving a beautiful display of color. The perfect romantic setting._

 _Arachne squealed quietly. "This is it, Venomwing! They're finally gonna confess their love, I can feel it!"_

 _The Remobra looked confused, but gave her rider a friendly lick on the cheek._

 _The girl's eyes were locked on the couple. Her stomach did a set of excited flips when Hiccup reached out and took Astrid's hand in his own._

 _"Oh my gods, they're holding hands! Oh, this is it!"_

 _Indeed, both Hiccup and Astrid were leaning in closer, their faces inches, centimeters, millimeters apart. Arachne leaned in as well, making sure to stay hidden inside the bushes as she strained to hear what was being said._

 _"Hey, Astrid?"_

 _"Yeah?"_

 _"I..."_

 _Arachne could barely contain her excitement. This was it! This was it, this was it, thiswasitthiswasitthiswasitthiswasit!_

 _"...was wondering if I could borrow Blackhawk for a lesson tomorrow."_

 _Stunned momentarily, Arachne shouted out in frustration._

 _"Oh, COME ON!"_

 _Realizing how loud she was being, the ten year old girl covered her mouth with both hands._

 _Too late._

 _"Arachne?!"_

 _Startled by her older sister figure's yell of annoyance, the girl quickly mounted her Remobra and flew out of there._

 _"I know they'll say it someday, Venomwing," she said. "And we're gonna be there when they do!"_

 _The Remobra cooed in agreement._

* * *

Sirenide backed off, leaving Snivels free to pick himself off the ground. Venomwing wasn't going to be there with Arachne when her favorite couple finally confessed their feelings to each other. But they still had a lot of fun together, flying high, training with the other riders and Monsties, emerging from fights against the Outcasts and wild monsters victorious, and witnessing some Hiccstrid moments.

Snivels noticed Sirenide's hesitation and confusion. He decided to try and get through to her again. "I never meant for you to feel responsible for what happened to Venomwing, Arachne, all I wanted was to tell you the truth. What happened to your Monstie was bad, but it wasn't your fault. You didn't kill Venomwing, it was the Outcasts."

Sirenide stumbled back a step, pulling the akumatized Remobra fang out of her pocket. Her last piece of Venomwing.

Hawk Moth was watching from afar, and he didn't like what he was seeing. "Sirenide, what are you doing? This is your chance to avenge your friend!"

But Sirenide was gone. Her eyes were that of Arachne. She turned and glared at Hawk Moth.

"I'll never be Sirenide!"

She then threw the fang onto the ground and blasted a blob of venom at it. The venom dissolved the fang, which drew the akuma out.

Hawk Moth was shocked. "What?! She resisted my akuma?! Impossible!"

Sirenide wasn't paying attention to him. Her eyes were on the Red Fatalis, whose attention was drawn toward all the noise. With a growl, the dragon-monster hybrid fired a stream of flames towards Snivels. Before the flames could reach him, Sirenide lunged, but instead of attacking, she enveloped the Servine in her wings and rolled them both away from the flames.

The akuma wasn't so lucky. The dark-powered butterfly's left wing brushed against the Red Fatalis's fire as it was flying away. Within seconds, the flames engulfed the akuma, and all that was left of the butterfly was the smallest pile of ashes anyone had ever seen.

Adhesive looked completely stunned before he shook himself back to his senses. "Well, I guess that's one way to get rid of an akuma."

By that time, Sirenide had changed back into Arachne, who looked a little shaken by the experience. "I can't believe I did all of that..."

Snivels stood up and looked at her. "It wasn't your fault, Arachne, the villain that sent the akuma was taking advantage of how you were feeling. And it wasn't your fault Venomwing was killed, either. I've been where you are, I've lost people, Pokémon and dragons I care about. But I didn't have any friends to help me through it at the time. You do. You didn't deserve to go through the heartbreak of losing someone close to you, but you did deserve to know the truth. That's why I told you about Mildew. It was never my intention to upset or hurt you. That's the last thing I'd ever do to a friend."

Arachne looked up at him. "I know it wasn't my fault Venomwing...you know. But I actually thought I was doing the right thing, going to save someone who helped Hiccup escape. But knowing now that it was all a trick..."

"You realized your rescue attempt was in vain," Snivels finished. "Which is why you thought Venomwing's death was your fault."

Archane nodded.

"But it wasn't your fault. Arachne, it takes a lot of courage to put your life in danger to save another. Even if they're not worth saving, your heart was in the right place."

The girl looked worried. "So, what do I do now?"

"Try again," was Snivels's reply. "Start over from the beginning. Make new friends, and find a family in those who care about you the most. Finding a new Monstie doesn't mean you're replacing Venomwing. You're just making room for another in your heart."

Arachne looked thoughtful, pondering all that her new friend had told her. She looked up to see Snivels offering his hand. She took it, and he pulled her up so that she was also standing. "You're right. It's just that, I've done a lot with Venomwing, and I thought we'd be able to do a lot more together. Whatever I'm gonna do next, I'll do it for her. I guess I'm lucky to have met a true friend like you."

Snivels shook his head. "No, I was lucky to meet a friend like you. I didn't think there was anyone who liked Hiccstrid as much, if not more, than I do."

Arachne looked confused. "Hiccstrid?" Then her eyes lit up with realization. "Oh!" She smiled. "I like the sound of that."

Snivels chuckled. "You ready to help your friends, now?"

The girl nodded. "Definitely."

The Mastermind had witnessed the akuma's defeat, but wasn't all that disappointed. "At least you were more successful than that old coot."

Despite that compliment, Hawk Moth was still quite furious. "No one resists my akumas! It's impossible!"

Snivels smiled proudly. "Yeah, well, Go-Getters have a habit of doing the impossible!"

The cane-weilding villain grumbled angrily before exiting through the rift. "This isn't over!"

"No, Hawk Moth," the Mastermind agreed, even though the villain was already gone. "It's only just beginning." He turned to look up at the Red Fatalis. "Grab the other Hiccup and destroy those pathetic heroes!"

The dragon-monster hybrid growled in response before roaring loudly at the beings that appeared to her as puny and insignificant creatures.

Snivels gulped. "I think we better RUN!" He yelled out the last word in the sentence as he and Arachne made way for the Great Hall, which seemed like the safest place at that point. They barely avoided a blast of fire from the Red Fatalis, but the force of the blast made them fly forward.

Around that time, Stoick was drawn outside from all the noise, and the first thing he noticed was the Red Fatalis. He found Hiccup and Sightless nearby, and practically stomped over. "Son, what is going on here?!"

MoB Hiccup didn't notice his dad at first, he was more focused on a particular Servine flying straight toward them. "Look out!"

Snivels ended up landing between the father and son, earning a suspicious glare from the chief.

"What is this snake?"

Snivels looked very annoyed at that. "Really? Seriously? W-why does everyone just stampede to _that_ conclusion?" He started picking himself up off the ground. "Why doesn't anyone say 'Oh, look, a vine serpent.' Or a pocket monster, for crying out loud!"

Stoick shifted his gaze to MoB Hiccup, obviously demanding an explanation.

The Monster Rider leader just shrugged. "Long story."

"Hiccup, watch out!"

Astrid's warning came too late, the Red Fatalis's fire attack was heading for him. Luckily, Sightless moved in fast enough to shield him and Snivels from the blast, though he sustained some damage as a result.

Adhesive was probably the only one to show more concern for the Gore Magala instead of the human and Pokémon he had wrapped in his wings.

"Polio!"

Hiccup squirmed his way out of his Monstie's wings, a look of confusion etched on his face. "What did you just call him?"

The Poipole flew down so the Monster Rider could hear him better. "Poliomyelitis. That's Sightless's real name. Gore Magalas usually name themselves after viral and bacterial infections, it's natural for them."

Snivels managed to pull himself free from the Gore Magala's grip, coughing a little. "Yeah, even I wouldn't have guessed that."

A roar from the Red Fatalis had brought Stoick's attention away from their conversation. Deciding he'd seen enough of the creature's rampage, he turned to face his son once again. "Will someone tell me what in Thor's name is going on here?!"

Blaze and Ninjark were soon there. Their intention was to help Snivels and MoB Hiccup, but the Blaziken stopped to give an exasperated answer. "Would it kill you to stop distracting us from the fight?"

Deciding that now wasn't the time to question the sight of weird, talking creatures from another dimension, Stoick drew out his hammer and faced the Red Fatalis. "I can handle any fight that threatens my people."

"Yeah, you can't fool us with that," Snivels said, more to himself than to Stoick.

Unfortunately for him, the chief heard it. He turned and glared at the Servine.

The Red Fatalis made a move to attack, but the Mastermind stopped her. "Hold it, girl. I'd like to see where this is going." He was actually enjoying the argument that was building between Stoick and the Pokémon.

The Berkian chief was too upset to notice the cloaked villain. "You dare speak to the chief like that?"

"I can speak however I please, thank you very much," Snivels said, his own anger growing. "Now do us all a favor and go back into the cave you crawled out of."

Adhesive chimed in. "He means get lost, Ganondorf!"

Stoick didn't know where that name originated from, but he could tell it was offensive.

"Alright, that's enough," the Mastermind decided. He signaled the Red Fatalis. "Grab him, now!"

The dragon-monster hybrid lashed out and grabbed MoB Hiccup in her paw, the one that was still holding HtBaT Hiccup. Blaze, Ninjark, Sightless and Stoick were shoved aside by the mass of the Red Fatalis's paw and claws while Snivels managed to dodge, but just barely.

A flurry of Deadly Nadder and Yian Garuga spines struck the back of the Red Fatalis's head, but she wasn't fazed. Even when all the remaining Monster Riders ordered their Monsties to attack, she didn't even flinch. She swatted out with her other front paw, as though trying to kill a fly. Most of Team Go-Getters and the Monster Riders managed to get out of the way, but the tip of the Red Fatalis's claw caught the strap of Siren Heather's satchel. The strap snapped in half, and the bag began plummeting towards the ground, the Siren egg slipping out.

Batwings was the first to notice.

"NO!"

All eyes focused on the falling egg, but only Cynder wasn't shocked enough to act. She ran forward, spreading her wings and taking flight. She wasn't going to let the egg of a fellow dragon perish, even if the dragon was from another world.

Snivels managed to bring himself to his senses rather quickly, and realized that the Red Fatalis was also moving to grab the egg.

"Look out behind you!"

The violet dragon turned her head to see the Red Fatalis's claws rapidly approaching. A Flamethrower and Water Pulse from Blaze and Ninjark, respectively, hit the hybrid's paw dead on, but she wasn't fazed.

But a virus blast from Sightless did more than that.

The Red Fatalis shrieked in pain as the Gore Magala's trademark breath attack enveloped her paw in dark wisps. The scales and skin turned an unhealthy shade of dark purple, and the hybrid retreated through the dimensional rift that had been present the whole time.

This left Cynder free to catch the falling Siren egg safely in her own claws. Once the egg was secure, she turned around and flew back towards the Siren mother that had been watching from her Seregios's back. Tears of relief filled Siren Heather's eyes as Cynder handed her the egg. "Thank you!" The mother wrapped her arms protectively around her unhatched daughter, with no intention of letting go.

Cynder watched with longing. She wanted to be loved by a parent, too. But Malefor was too interested in conquest to care how his daughter felt.

The Mastermind growled with rage as his beloved dragon-monster hybrid departed. "This isn't the last you've seen of me and my Red Fatalis! As soon as I'm done with that pathetic little twig, you're all next!"

Drageist wasn't about to let the cloaked villain get away. "After him!"

HtBaT Astrid was the first to react, urging Stormfly forward. The Nadder took off towards the Mastermind, who was about to exit through the rift. Blaze soon followed, her Speed Boost allowing her to keep up with Stormfly.

But they were too late. The Mastermind had already left, and the dimensional rift disappeared.

Snivels, who had been helping Sightless stand up with Toothless's assistance, sighed. "Well, we lost our leader, again."

HtBaT Heather landed Windshear nearby. "At least that monster thing is gone."

Ninjark shuddered a little. "Yeah, that thing's probably gonna be haunting all our nightmares."

Drageist shook his head. "This is getting way out of hand. If we're going to be fighting against an army of villains, I'm going to need to be at my full power." He turned to Kuro. "Watch out for them while I get my Griseous Orb."

The Necrozma nodded in acknowledgment.

Drageist then summoned a portal that disappeared as soon as he passed through it.

While Team Go-Getters was still raring to go, the Monster Riders looked ready to collapse in exhaustion. Well, except for Arachne and MoB Astrid. Batwings and Siren Heather were making sure their precious egg hadn't been damaged in any way. Swift was also checking on the young ones, making sure Ratha and Rathi hadn't sustained any damage in the fight.

Finally, Stoick exploded. "If someone doesn't tell me what's going on here, you're all cleaning the stables!"

Arachne spoke up, a bit timidly since she had been startled by the chief's sudden yell. "They're from other worlds and they're fighting against this really evil guy no one knows, and we've decided to help them."

"I'm not sure if we can," Fishlegs said. "Heatray is way overdue for a nap, and you know how she is when she gets cranky." Indeed, the Gravios was slumped to the ground, looking about ready to fall asleep.

Snaketail's excuse wasn't as valid. "Twinhorn and I have a score to settle with Alvin and Mildew."

The Thorston twins' excuse wasn't much better. "There are a few things here we need to blow up," was what Tuffnut said. His sister added, "And I want to see if I can hit him in the head hard enough to make him say that word again."

Snotlout didn't even try to make an excuse. "Useless isn't my problem anymore, so count me out." Snotsnarl threw him off of the saddle in response, sending the Jorgenson sprawling into the dirt for the second time that day.

"Okay, fewer numbers," Snivels said, his sarcasm making him sound a bit more like his trainer. "That's great."

Stoick shook his head. "Hiccup's my son. If anyone's going to rescue him, it's me." He added under his breath, "As soon as I finish the council meeting." He started back towards the Great Hall, where the rest of the council was waiting outside the doors.

Snivels looked at the chief's retreating form, glaring. "Oh, yeah? If you care about your son so much, why did you disown him?"

Stoick stopped in his tracks as the council gasped. The chief gave the Servine a backwards glance, his expression an attempt to match his namesake. "I don't know what you're talking about."

If Snivels had eyebrows, he would have raised one. Even an idiot could tell he was lying. "'You've thrown your lot in with them. You're not a Viking. You're not my son.' Does that sound familiar?"

"How would you know?" the chief demanded.

"Because I was there!" Snivels shouted angrily. "Even back where I'm from, you said that to him! I was waiting outside, and I heard you! He tried to warn you about a threat you couldn't defeat, and you threw him away like a piece of garbage! You call these creatures 'monsters,' but there's only one, true monster on this island! You hid the truth from everyone in the village because you were too cowardly to admit you made a mistake! Your son is the kindest, bravest and most talented person I've ever met, and if you can't give him the love he deserves because he isn't the kind of person you want him to be, then you're nothing but a heartless monster!"

All of the Vikings who were watching gasped loudly. No one had ever spoken to their chief like that, especially not a talking vine snake. Then again, Stoick never told them that he had disowned his son.

Stoick was so irritated and embarrassed, he couldn't speak. Instead, he threw his hammer to the ground in anger.

Snivels didn't even flinch at the sound of the heavy weapon clanging against the stone that was laid across the plaza. The corner of his eye caught the two Astrids, who were both standing in a sort of stupor. Batwings, Arachne, the two Heathers, even Toothless and the monsters Snivels had befriended were all staring at him.

Everything Snivels said, past and present, was the truth. Not that he was unable to lie, he just never chose to. Team Go-Getters knew that. But the Monster Riders didn't. For all they knew, he could have just been saying those things to make Stoick look bad.

"Guys, please," the Servine begged. "I'm not making this up, I'm telling the truth!"

Sightless acted first, charging forward and pouncing onto Stoick, pinning him to the ground. Though the monster lacked eyes, his face was scrunched up in anger. Stoick stared up at the eyeless face of his son's Monstie, who was baring his teeth and snarling. He wanted to hurt the man who had caused his rider so much emotional pain.

"Sightless, don't!"

MoB Astrid's shout made the Gore Magala relax a little. Only a little. He shifted his head so that his heat vision could detect the figure of his rider's soul mate.

"He isn't worth it," he heard her admit, her voice heavy with as much anger as he was displaying. She was still hesitant to finish the phrase, though.

"He never was."

Getting the message, Sightless turned his head back to the chief, his eyeless gaze striking a twinge of fear into him. The Gore Magala sucked in a big breath, drawing back so that his front paws lifted off of Stoick. The chief expected the worst, as Sightless's front paws slammed down and the Gore Magala's mouth opened.

CHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

The angry roar carried on for miles, frightening some faraway birds into flight deep within the forest. Satisfied, Sightless turned and headed back towards his friends, making sure to hit the chief in the face with his tail as he left. The Gore Magala approached Snivels, his expression now much calmer. The Servine pat the Elder Dragon's muzzle.

"Yeah, I know how it feels."

Stoick took this time to pick himself off the ground and stomp off in the direction of his house, angrier than most of the villagers had ever seen him.

Now that the chief was gone, Arachne walked up to Snivels to voice her opinion. "That was the bravest thing I have ever seen someone do."

Snivels gave her a small smile. "Sometimes the bravest thing you can do is stand up for your friend. Even if you're standing alone."

Kuro then summoned a wormhole, and turned to the group of young heroes. "That's enough smaller-scale heroism for now, we need to get going."

Arachne stepped forward bravely. "I'm coming, too."

Kuro shook his head. "It's too dangerous for a young girl like you to be fighting in such a large-scale conspiracy."

"But Hiccup's my friend, too," Arachne argued. "If I'm not going to represent the Monster Riders in this fight, then who will?"

At first, no one responded. But then, MoB Astrid and Blackhawk each took a step forward.

"We will."

Arachne and the present members of Team Go-Getters looked amazed. Especially when Batwings and Mocktalk stepped up as well.

"Hiccup was the first human friend I ever had," the Siren said. "It would be my honor to fight for him."

"Mocktalk in!" squawked the Qurupeco.

Swift also stepped forward, but held Ratha and Rathi back so they couldn't run ahead of her. The two youngsters wanted to be in on the action too, but the Nargacuga wouldn't allow it.

All eyes shifted to Siren Heather, who was holding her and Batwing's egg in her arms. She shook her head. "I can't. I need to stay and protect her."

Batwings approached his mate, laying a clawed hand on her shoulder. "I understand. I'll fight for both of us, and our daughter, too." An offended snort from the Seregios made him add, "And Scarath."

Siren Heather gave him a warm smile before leaning in and kissing him tenderly. The sight of it made HtBaT Heather blush a little.

Cynder, who had been momentarily forgotten by the rest, flew into the improvised circle. "I'm going."

Adhesive looked concerned. "You're serious?"

Kuro sighed. "As much as I hate to admit it, she has some knowledge of the conspiracy that can be useful for us."

Cynder nodded. "It's true. I've seen that cloaked guy talking to my dad a few times, though they never came to an agreement. I overheard quite a few things I've been wondering about."

The next thing anyone knew, they were all in the wormhole. Kuro had made the portal suck them in, and it was now pulling them towards an unknown destination. Even the Monster Riders were sucked in. Well, except for Siren Heather and Scarath.

"Hey!" Was the lazy Snotlout's exclamation. This earned him a glare from Kuro.

"We're in the end game now," the Necrozma said. "Everyone who rides a dragon or monster, mount up."

They didn't need to be told twice. HtBaT Astrid mounted Stormfly while her MoB counterpart mounted Blackhawk. Snivels and Arachne, pulled themselves onto Toothless and Sightless's saddles working to operate the Night Fury's prosthetic and the Gore Magala's splint. Ratha and Rathi decided to hitch a ride on Swift's back while Batwings and HtBaT Heather helped each other mount Mocktalk and Windshear, respectively. The Siren failed to notice the blush that was present on Heather's cheeks as he assisted her with mounting her dragon in the middle of a wormhole. She was shocked back to reality when Ninjark joined her, sitting behind her in the saddle. Blaze did the same with Astrid and Stormfly.

The Monster Riders were a little less enthusiastic. Heatray had fallen asleep, so Fishlegs had to move slowly so he wouldn't wake her up. The suction of the wormhole kept the Gravios moving even though she wasn't flying or flapping her wings. Snotsnarl plucked up Snotlout in his teeth and twisted his neck so he could drop his arrogant rider into the saddle. Snaketail was momentarily distracted by Tuffnut, for some reason no one wanted to know, before one of Twinhorn's horns poked her gently in the back. Remembering what she was asked to do, along with everyone else, the Grundenson girl mounted her Black Diablos. Tuffnut and Ruffnut briefly ended up on the wrong monsters before realizing their mistake and switching. The male twin stroked his Teostra's mane. "Much better."

Kuro nodded in satisfaction before turning to look at the violet dragon.

"Now, Cynder, tell us everything you know."

* * *

 **Snivels: Well, not bad for our first time fighting the Mastermind.**

 **Me: Good, because I worked really hard to try and make it great.**

 **Arachne: Boy, am I glad to not be Sirenide anymore!**

 **Blaze: What was that all about?**

 **Snivels: I'd rather we not talk about it.**

 **Ninjark: Good, because we might not want to know about it.**

 **Me: Well, I've been having fun creating the Red Fatalis, I can tell you guys that.**

 **Sightless: CHAAA! _Review!_**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: An Impromptu Rescue

 **Me: Finally, I can add more excitement, and a bit of humor, to this.**

 **Blaze: Why? Because the Red Fatalis and chewing Stoick out wasn't enough?**

 **Snivels: Hey, it pays to speak up, you know!**

 **Ninjark: As long as he doesn't need kill us later.**

 **Arachne: I doubt he would do that.**

 **Me: Yeah, well you never know. Let's move on, shall we?**

* * *

To sum it up, as Hiccup would do, the wormhole ride was quite possibly the weirdest experience Team Go-Getters and the Monster Riders ever had. Cynder wasn't bothered by it that much, but it was most likely because she was busy telling Kuro and Adhesive what had been going on while the Mastermind was conversing with Malefor.

"That cloaked guy kept asking for my dad's assistance, but my dad said he wouldn't unless the Mastermind had anything to offer in return. Nothing the Mastermind offered interested Malefor, but he kept coming back anyway."

Kuro nodded. "Obviously, this Mastermind is a very determined villain. He'll do anything to get what he wants. Much like the other villains he's been recruiting from other dimensions."

"How do you guys know so much about the Mastermind, and yet don't know who he is?" Snivels asked.

Adhesive shrugged. "Opal couldn't remember where she dropped her Griseous Orb, so the Mastermind could be anyone, really."

A loud yawn brought their attention to Snotlout, who had been sleeping the whole time. "Keep it down and wake me when we get there."

Kuro gave the lazy Jorgenson an unseeable sneer. "Actually, we've arrived."

No sooner after he said that, the wormhole ended, and the entire group wound up landing (in Snotlout's case, crashing) into an enigmatic world the present members of Team Go-Getters knew quite well.

The Distortion World.

Specifically, a large piece of rocky ground somewhere deep within the realm.

After a good look around, HtBaT Astrid turned to Kuro. "Why are we back here?"

"There's an old mansion hidden deep within the realm," Kuro replied, "We believe the conspiracy of villains may be using it as a hideout. I helped Drageist send in some of the Ultra Guardians from my world, but they failed to return."

Snivels looked confused. "Why doesn't Drageist go in there with them?"

"He doesn't want to risk losing his own Griseous Orb," said Adhesive. "With both, the Mastermind could potentially destroy the entire Multiverse!"

Snotlout, who had been picking himself off the rocky floor, scoffed. "If they're so dangerous, why bother carrying them around?"

As if on cue, Drageist arrived in his Origin Forme.

"Dimensional rifts are what happens when the power of the Griseous Orb is used for evil," the Giratina explained. "Each time a dimensional rift is opened, more appear in random dimensions. They suck up whatever's nearby and dispense them into another world."

Snivels shuddered as he recalled the situation that had him ending up in the Monster of Berk timeline. "You don't need to tell us twice."

Drageist's gaze shifted to a large fortress-like mansion floating in the distance on a large piece of land. "Opal and I were hoping to renovate that place for when we decided to have a family. When I discovered that the Conspiracy was housing it, I decided it was time to enlist the assistance of Team Go-Getters. Of course, you members know how that turned out. And I realize now that this is not a task you can complete by yourselves. Unless...you had an army of your own."

He summoned a portal, which the Thorston twins were mesmerized by.

"If I stuck my hand in there and the whole thing just vanished, would my hand disappear?" Tuffnut asked no one in particular.

"Bro, I was wondering the same thing," Ruffnut replied.

Drageist gave the two a disturbed glare. "I strongly advise you two not to try something so foolish in such a serious situation, there are much more pressing concerns as of this exact moment."

Ruffnut groaned. "Stop using so many big, smart words!"

"Yeah, we don't speak Hiccup," Tuffnut said.

Behind the twins, the two Astrids simultaneously facepalmed.

Drageist shook his head. "I'm going to gather more heroes who have seen the Code White message." He turned to Cynder. "You might want to come with me. There's a certain group I know you'd love to meet."

That made the violet dragon perk up.

Kuro then summoned a wormhole. "You won't be able to gather the heroes alone, Drageist. I'm the one who broadcasted the message, it only makes sense I should join you."

Drageist nodded in agreement.

"I want to help!" Adhesive declared as he floated over.

Kuro stopped him in his tracks by holding a hand up, causing the Poipole to collide into his palm face-first. "You're still not a full-fledged Ultra Guardian," the Necrozma said. "You and I both know it's best you stay with Team Go-Getters until further notice."

"Okay," Adhesive disappointedly replied, his voice muffled due to Kuro's hand.

The next thing any of them knew, Drageist and Kuro passed through the portal and wormhole they respectively summoned, Cynder following Drageist in hope of meeting her heroes, the Skylanders.

Snivels and Arachne looked to the two Astrids. "So, what now?" the ten-year-old girl asked.

HtBaT Astrid had been in the Distortion World longer than her MoB counterpart, so she answered. "If we try to fly in, they might see us. We'll have to walk."

The still-lazy and evermore arrogant Snotlout gawked at how far away the mansion was. "I haven't had to walk that far since I was five!" His complaint was rewarded with a smack in the head curtesy of Snotsnarl.

* * *

Meanwhile, inside the mansion, the Mastermind watched in frustration and disbelief as the Red Fatalis used her fire to burn away the remnants of the virus courtesy of Sightless's breath attack.

"I don't understand, she's invincible! No weapon has ever even pierced her scales, and now that Gore Magala thinks it can make her fall?!"

Hawk Moth was standing nearby. He shook his head. "Now you know how it feels to be disappointed in something of your creation."

The Mastermind turned to face him, his eyes still hidden beneath the hood of his cloak. "I take it you're still upset about Sirenide."

"Admittedly, yes," the cane-wielding villain replied. "But I'm sensing something new. A man who has been singled out for all his wrongdoings."

About a dozen dimensional rifts were surrounding the two evil-doers, one of which gave access to the Monsters of Berk timeline. Hawk Moth was sensing Stoick's anger over what had happened earlier.

Hawk Moth held out his hand, and a pure white butterfly flew over, landing in his outstretched hand. The cane-wielder covered the butterfly with his other hand, empowering it with dark energy. The man removed his hand, allowing the newly-created akuma to take to the air. The dark butterfly fluttered towards the rift that provided a doorway to the MoB timeline.

"Fly away, my little akuma, and evilize him!"

* * *

Stoick was inside his house, still fuming over the incident in the plaza. Then he sighed and took off his helmet, looking at it. It was supposed to be a symbol of him being the leader, a mark of high authority.

The chief sat down, staring at his helmet the whole time. He didn't see the akuma enter his house, and he barely noticed the fluttering, dark butterfly enter his helmet through one of the large horns.

He did notice the image of a nefarious man that was speaking to him, though.

"Manstre, I am Hawk Moth. They called you a monster, so that's what you're going to be from now on! However, the power I'm giving you comes with a price. In return, you must serve me and when the time is right, you will help me get what I need the most. Understood?"

An evil smile curled across the chief's face.

"Yes, Hawk Moth."

Oily purple and black mist surrounded the large man as he transformed.

* * *

Of course, the trip was quite long and tiring. As if Snotlout's constant complaints of "ow, ow, ow," with every few steps he took didn't make that fact clear enough.

Nevertheless, they pressed on.

Snaketail was trailing behind, staying just ahead of Snotlout. She was still angry, even Twinhorn was staying a few feet away from her. The Grundenson girl clenched her fists tight, her eyes locked onto the mansion. "If Alvin and Mildew are in that place, I'm gonna give them a piece of my mind!"

Snivels shuddered a little. "And I thought Astrid had a bad attitude."

"I heard that!"

It was MoB Astrid who shouted, her hand dangerously close to one of her Dual Blades, the Midnight Blackwings.

Ninjark flinched. "It's like she has the ears of a Noivern, or something."

"Or a Yian Garuga," Arachne added, pointing to Blackhawk, who was keeping pace with her rider.

Blaze nodded. "Yeah, I guess that works, too."

The mansion turned out to be a lot bigger than originally thought, now that they were all looking at it up close. The chances of the group getting separated were, as Fishlegs would put it, escalating into double-digits.

In fact, that's exactly what he said. He ended up with everyone else, even the chipper and fun-loving Adhesive, glaring in his general direction.

And so it was that they ended up splitting into groups to cover more ground within the large building. Fishlegs ended up with Snaketail, Snotlout and the twins, HtBaT and MoB Astrid decided to take Heather and Batwings, Blaze and Ninjark went with Adhesive and Swift, and Snivels and Arachne took Ratha, Rathi, Toothless and Sightless.

Now, let it be said that Batwings found it rather awkward to be traveling with a version of Heather that wasn't a Siren, given that in his world she was his mate and the mother of his unhatched child. But the prolonged silence was only making the situation more awkward, so he decided to try and break that silence.

"So...have you found someone special back in your world?"

Heather blushed at that. This Siren was her counterpart's mate and the father of her unhatched child. Was there a guy like this back in her own world? She certainly hoped so. "Uh...no, not really, but...I'd like to."

That last part made Batwings blush a little, too. "Right, so, are there Sirens in your world?"

Heather shrugged, but nodded. "Yeah, but they're next to impossible to find. I can't imagine how Snivels reacted when he first saw you."

Okay, good, they were making progress.

"So, you have an egg," Heather said, awkwardly.

Batwings gave a curt nod. "Yes, I do."

Heather cleared her throat. "This probably isn't going to sound good, but how did...I mean, when...why...uh..."

It wasn't like her to get flustered, Batwings knew that. But if he had been talking to someone who was, to put it in a simple way, in a relationship with another version of him, he'd get flustered as well. "Let's just say we've had quite some time to think about, well, expanding the family a little."

"Mocktalk family, too!" the Qurupeco squawked from behind the Siren.

Windshear snarled warningly. She wasn't one to let unfamiliar creatures near her rider, especially since she was Razorwhip.

Casting a glance back at her dragon friend, Heather gave Batwings a look of concern. "The Monster Riders are your family, too, aren't they?"

Batwings sighed. "Yes, those people let me into their village during the war because they needed a valuable ally. But Hiccup knew I was not a mere tool to be used in battle. He's treated me like I am one of his people, even when I'm in my true form. I guess I owe him for trusting me as a friend rather than the dragon everyone saw me for. I feel like an equal among the riders. Even when Snotface is going full Jorgenson."

They both had a laugh at that.

"But I have a bigger responsibility now," Batwings said, his tone more serious. "I'll rejoin the Monster Riders someday, but not today. Not yet. Infant Sirens aren't as vulnerable as they might appear. With flames that are nearly impossible to put out, they can easily defend themselves if separated from their parents. Perhaps I'll consider rejoining after my...our egg hatches."

That brought Heather's blush right back.

Ahead of them, MoB and HtBaT Astrid had been having their own conversation. If you could call it that, because normal conversations didn't have two people who sounded exactly the same talking back and forth.

"So, you guys are married?"

"Yeah, we are."

As strange as that sounded to MoB Astrid, there was a something else that was quite a bit weirder. "I've talked to myself before, but this is ridiculous."

HtBaT Astrid had to agree. "Tell me about it."

* * *

In another long hallway, things were going a heck of a lot less awkwardly with a particular Servine and ten-year-old girl. Arachne had asked what Pokémon were like back in Snivels's world, and he was more than happy to explain it all. At least, in a way that wouldn't be confusing.

"There's two different types of evolution where I'm from: scientific and Pokémon evolution. It takes normal animals, including humans, millions of years to undergo a natural change into a different form. But Pokémon evolution occurs in only a few seconds at the very least, and a minute at the very most. I was a Snivy before, but I evolved into a Servine."

Arachne was quite intrigued. "So, what was it like to evolve?"

Snivels looked very thoughtful as he tried to remember what he had been feeling when he had evolved. "I'm...not sure. It was like I was still me, but...it was also like I was somebody else."

Now it was Arachne's turn to look thoughtful. "I wonder if that's how people feel when they become adults."

Snivels looked a little confused. "Well, I guess evolution for Pokémon is a little like growing up, so...maybe?" He then cried out as a certain Rathian hatchling bit his tail. "For the love of Arceus, you don't have to bite down on everything that moves, Rathi!"

The baby Rathian responded by letting go of Snivels and starting a game of chase with Ratha.

Arachne laughed. "I'm really starting to like those guys. Do you think Hiccup will let us keep them?"

Snivels just shrugged.

The monster-less rider looked worried. "What's wrong?"

The Servine stopped walking and sighed. "Earlier in the plaza, when I yelled at Stoick, it wasn't just because he disowned Hiccup. I've seen what he did to all the dragons he faced in battle. There are eighteen different Pokémon types, and one of them is Dragon. Seeing those dragons and Dragon-Type Pokémon being killed was like seeing my family die all over again. Stoick didn't even hesitate to kill any dragonets or pre-evolved Dragon-Types he'd managed to find. And the way he always shouted at his son and left him laying in the dirt like a piece of scrap, it...it was like watching myself getting yelled at by all of those people who wanted me to fight their battles for them. No one cared for my wellbeing, they just wanted to use me as a tool. And Stoick...he was so focused on finally putting an end to the war he failed to see the truth, even when it was right in front of him. All my life, I've spoken nothing but the truth, but he thought it was all a lie. He never even saw the truth until it was almost too late. His mistakes nearly cost the life of the one person I knew I could trust. I've seen him do things I can never unsee. Decapitating dragons, killing their young without a second guess, and treating his own son like dirt. He's a monster. And the only mistake I made was being too afraid to stand up to him sooner."

Arachne looked like she was ready to tear up. She took a step forward, contemplating whether she should hug him or not. "I'm so sorry."

Snivels shook his head. "I don't blame you. From the looks of it, you were too young to enter training with the others. You don't know what it's like to see a man kill so many innocent creatures trying to survive in a world of fear and hatred. I've seen too many of my friends and family die. Not a single day goes by without me wishing I could have done something about it. I was too young, too...afraid." His voice was breaking as he finished his admission. "I couldn't save them." Memories of the dragons and Pokémon that he saw die in the war, at the hands of Vikings, forced tears out of the Servine's eyes. "I'm sorry!"

Arachne was about to rush forward and hug him, like she should have done earlier, but stopped when Toothless padded forward and draped his wing over Snivels. The Night Fury crooned sadly as he nuzzled the Servine in an attempt at comfort. Sightless joined them, but hesitantly since he wasn't used to showing affection to anyone besides his master.

Snivels noticed the Gore Magala and chuckled a little. "So, Poliomyelitis, huh?"

Sightless put on the best annoyed expression he could do without any eyes. " _I very much prefer Sightless, now, but yes. Poliomyelitis is my real name._ "

Toothless gave the Gore Magala a dragonish grin. " _I'm Shadow._ "

Sightless gave a curt nod. " _Pleasure to meet you._ "

Toothless pulled his wing off of Snivels, leaving an opening for Arachne to finally give her friend the hug he needed. "I'm sorry about what you went through."

Snivels shrugged as best he could. "You don't have to be. Living in a place with a lot of Vikings, it's something I've kinda gotten used to. Doesn't make me hate it less, though. It's nice to have friends I know I can trust."

A loud thud from far off made Arachne jump back. Sightless and Toothless both growled, wary that whatever made the noise could be a threat.

Ratha cooed in fear and hid himself behind Snivels. Rathi snarled, hoping to fight whatever it was that made the noise.

As the thuds kept getting closer, Snivels and Arachne looked every which way to try and find what was coming their way. A pair of glowing red eyes appeared first, and a large monster made its way out of the shadows in full view of the small group.

It was a Rajang. And it was wearing Stoick's helmet.

The Fanged Beast roared, its fur giving the impression that it had somehow lit itself on fire. Sightless instantly sprang forward, giving off a scream-like roar. Toothless hesitated. He'd never seen a creature like the Rajang. But since his friends were in danger, he knew it was best to help Sightless drive off the threat rather than hang back and do nothing.

The Rajang barely dodged a virus and plasma blast from the Gore Magala and Night Fury, respectively. Deciding he'd have a better chance if he was bigger, a dark mist surrounded him as his form changed. He grew bigger, stronger, and much, MUCH meaner.

When the mist faded, a gigantic Deviljho stood where the Rajang once was.

Toothless uncharacteristically turned tail and ran back to where his young friends were watching.

Then the Deviljho began to _talk._

"You're right to fear Manstre. Now you will feel my wrath!"

Of course, his voice was that of Stoick.

Manstre lashed out, knocking Sightless away with one swing of his mighty Deviljho tail. The Gore Magala landed a good distance into the incredibly long hallway behind Snivels and Arachne. Knowing that they didn't stand a chance against the angry monster, Snivels whispered in Arachne's ear, "Run."

She didn't need to be told twice. All but one of the group turned towards the other end of the hallway and ran. Rathi, however, stood firm, snarling at the Deviljho that towered over her like a mountain.

Brave, but foolish, was the young Rathian.

Snivels was the first to notice Rathi's absence. He stopped and turned around to find her facing Manstre fearlessly. "Rathi, don't just stand there! RUN!"

The Rathian hatchling ignored the concerned Servine's call. She actually believed she could stand a chance against the monster.

And oh boy, was she wrong.

Rathi lunged forward, her claws aiming for Manstre's neck. But the akumatized villain swatted her away like she was a tiny housefly. Rathi hit the wall and went down hard, sore but alive. Her eyes locked with Manstre's, this time they were filled with hurt and fear of the Deviljho.

Snivels was about to run forward and get Rathi out of there, but a flash of red made him freeze with surprise.

"Ratha, no!"

The Rathalos hatchling also ignored the concerned Servine's call. His eyes were on Manstre, a fire building in his throat as he flapped his wings to get airborne.

Rathi lay exposed as the helmet-wearing Deviljho continued to advance, his jaws opening as he prepared to swallow her in one gulp. But a fireball to his head made him stop as Ratha swooped in and placed himself between Rathi and Manstre. With new confidence, Ratha fired another fireball, but Manstre blocked it with his tail. The Deviljho lunged, but Ratha and Rathi dodged at the last second, running to where Snivels was watching with wide eyes.

Ratha had just saved Rathi. And he had done it all by himself.

An angry roar from Manstre got Snivels turning and running. It didn't take him long to reach the pace of Toothless and his Gore Magala counterpart.

Arachne suddenly spotted a doorway that led to another area of the mansion. It was just big enough for the disabled dragon and splinted monster to fit through. She practically through herself through the doorway and gestured for Snivels, Toothless and the monster companions to follow. "Quick, in here!"

No one hesitated to follow. Toothless was the last to go through, he'd just squeezed his way in when Manstre's jaws caught up with them. The akumatized villain just barely missing the Night Fury. He peered in. The doorway was much to small for him to follow, and he knew it. So, he started ramming into the wall, to try and bust through. By that time, the small group he'd been chasing was already far beyond his reach.

"You can't run forever," Manstre called out. "You will pay for all you've done to me!"

* * *

Elsewhere, but not too far from Snivels's group, Blaze and Ninjark were enduring the talkativeness of a particular Poipole.

"This whole fortress-mansion is kinda eerie. I mean, it's like a horror movie waiting to happen. I don't know whether to be scared or excited, because as bad as it might be, this could be the opportunity I need to prove I can be a full-fledged Ultra Guardian."

Blaze groaned in frustration. "Do you have to treat everything like a game? This isn't one of those situations where you just waltz in and everything turns out peachy!"

Adhesive turned to face her. "Well, what's the point? Spending your whole life in a safety box and never heading out to see the world? Because that's not what I want to do."

"I wouldn't want that, either," Ninjark admitted. Behind him, Swift gave a sort of croon, as if she was agreeing with them.

Blaze just about lost it. "I get the point you're trying to make, but we don't have time for this! Let's just keep moving before..."

Too late. There was a hissing sound, and a fog-like knockout gas started seeping through hidden compartments in the walls around them.

The mansion defense system.

* * *

No one knew what had happened. One minute, they were traveling through the mansion, the next they had all blacked out.

Snivels was the first to wake up. The first thing he noticed was that he was behind bars.

And he wasn't the only one.

Ratha and Rathi were being held in a cell right across from him.

Well, actually it was a bedroom. But the door had been replaced with a set of metal bars.

The situation with everyone else was the same. Arachne was trapped with both MoB and HtBaT Astrid. Heather was trapped with a drugged Batwings, who she was trying to awaken with failure. Blaze was by herself, in a heavily reinforced room, while Ninjark and Adhesive's bars were both water and poison-proof. The Thorston twins were in the same room, of course, which left Snotlout and Fishlegs.

"Oh, come on! Why did I have to be stuck with Guppylegs?!"

The monster companions and Toothless were all absent, presumably being held in a more reinforced area designed to hold large animals.

The Mastermind walked in, Malefor and Manstre (in the form of an Arzuros) accompanying him.

"Well, isn't this a fine turnout?" The cloaked villain asked in amusement. "Did you really think you could sneak in and make it out with your friend all that easily?"

HtBaT Astrid glared at him through the bars of her makeshift cell. "We didn't expect it to be easy. Now where is Hiccup?"

Malefor stomped his foot. "You're in no position to ask questions, fool!"

"Easy, Malefor," the Mastermind said, calmly. "She's got spunk, and I like it." He shifted his gaze to HtBaT Astrid. "You'll get to see your puny little boyfriend one last time, don't you worry. In fact, I think I might have something in store for you and your friends. And just in time for lunch!"

He turned toward the exit, where a pair of heavily armored Outcast soldiers were standing guard. Malefor and Manstre left first, leaving the Mastermind to carry out his next order to the guards privately.

"Make sure the Rancor is ready."

* * *

 **Me: Okay, it's not the best kind of chapter to post, but at least it's done!**

 **Snivels: I appreciate you attempting to justify my hatred for Vikings and their way of life.**

 **Blaze: So, what? It'll just pick up where we left off with the Rancor at the beginning of the arc?**

 **Me: Exactly!**

 **Adhesive: Hope we get good reviews for this!**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Under the Cloak

 **Snivels: I'm not sure if I like the sound of that...**

 **Me: Just try to think about who might be hiding underneath.**

 **Blaze: Easy for you to say, you know exactly who it is!**

 **Ninjark: How much more of this thing is left?**

 **Me: Well, I don't plan on this arc being longer than twelve chapters.**

 **Snivels: That's fair. Shall we get started?**

* * *

Snivels paced back and forth in his makeshift cell. He should have known that the mansion would have a defense system in case of robbery or unwelcome guests.

And oh, did he wish he wasn't alone in the cell so he could talk to someone.

Then again, some of his friends were conversing, and they were in separate cells.

"Do you think he'll feed us to the Red Fatalis?" Ninjark asked. He had found a rubber ball and was bouncing it off the floor and wall to fight his boredom.

Adhesive was trying to use his poison to corrode the bars, but to no avail. "Doubt it. Even a building as big as this mansion is too small for that behemoth to fit in. Besides, there are worse ways to go."

Blaze scoffed from her position leaning against the bars of her cell. "Name one thing that's more dangerous than the Red Fatalis."

Adhesive pretending to think as he listed off a few names. "Uh, Darkstalker, King Ghidorah, Stoick when he's angry, which is always."

It was that time Batwings awoke, groggily. "What happened? Where are we? What's going on?" He let out a sneeze, and Heather managed to just barely dodge the flames that emitted from his mouth.

Alarmed, Snivels took a quick sniff before nearly sneezing himself.

"Blue Oleander!"

Snotlout scoffed. "What's he freaking out about it for?"

"He's allergic to Blue Oleander," Blaze said as if it was the most natural thing in the whole Multiverse.

Snivels had to hold back another sneeze. "That's an understatement. Those things could kill me, and you know it!"

The door that led out of the hallway slammed open, and a pair of heavily-armored guards came in with a new prisoner. HtBaT Astrid recognized the young man struggling against his captors as Hroar, and he was probably the last person she'd have liked to see being dragged into the same area as she and her friends.

Hroar yelled out as he was thrown into an empty room, a set of bars closing off the entrance in place of a door, like the cells that held all the others. He picked himself off the floor as the guards turned to leave. "You can't leave me like this, you brutes!"

One of the guards hesitated, as if he was thinking about turning around and letting the young man out. But he still left the hallway with the other guard.

Snivels noticed the guard's behavior, and it raised a suspicion. "Who is that?"

The young man leaned against the bars so he could see the Servine better. "I'm Hroar, from Knaff. Those guards caught me on a sea stack _someone_ left me on." He cast an angry eye at HtBaT Astrid, who wasn't even bothering to look at him.

Snivels gave Hroar a similar look. "You're from Knaff? Really?"

Arachne looked confused. "Why is that bad?"

"I've been to Knaff," Snivels said. "It's very remote. Even more so than Berk."

HtBaT Astrid shifted her eyes towards Hroar just a little. "He said his father works in a slate quarry there."

Snivels's glare intensified. "There are no slate quarries on Knaff. They specialize in fishing, weaving and brewing. No mining. Furthermore, I'm now smelling traces of the other villains we encountered. Malefor, Hawk Moth, that Manstre thing, and the Red Fatalis. But they aren't in the Distortion World anymore, are they?"

Hroar didn't answer.

Snivels continued. "And the cloak Mastermind was always wearing. It smells like angry dragons. I can smell it now, because it's not just the cloak that smells like that. All of those scents are coming off of Hroar. So tell us, who are you really?"

Hroar's angry glare turned into an evil smile as he pulled a small remote out of a pocket in his pants. He pressed a button, and the bars to his "cell" opened. Everyone but Snivels and HtBaT Astrid stared wide-eyed at what had just occurred.

"I'm surprised," Hroar said as he threw the little remote down the hall so none of his prisoners could reach it. "Didn't think a snake could figure it out." He stepped out of his cell. "He guessed right. I am the Mastermind."

"Why are you doing all of this?" Arachne asked.

Hroar chuckled. "You wouldn't know, you're not from the canon timeline. Yes, that's where I'm from. I was offered a job by Alvin the Treacherous. I was asked to infiltrate the Dragon Riders by pretending to be a stowaway from Knaff." He approached the cell that held both Astrids, and forced the HtBaT counterpart to look at him by grasping her chin and turning her face towards him. "I have to say, I was surprised to find myself attracted to your canon counterpart. I even thought we could be kindred spirits. I suppose that's part of why Hiccup was distrusting of me. He was always suspicious of me, and you never realized until it was nearly too late that he had a right to be. That lullaby I was speaking earlier? It's something I use to make dragons angry and aggressive. You see, while your little boyfriend can calm dragons down, I can rile them up. That was part of my job. I make all the dragons angry and more aggressive, they destroy Berk and leave its people defenseless, leaving Alvin free to walk in and take over whatever is left. But that pathetic little toothpick found out about my charade and I was left on a sea stack to be picked up by Alvin, humiliated."

HtBaT Astrid pulled herself free from his grip, but Hroar continued his tale nonetheless.

"I found that Griseous Orb by chance. I didn't know what it was, but when I realized it had the power to create portals and rifts to other worlds, I decided to use it to exact my revenge. I stole a cloak from some lowly clothesmaker and used it to hide my identity in case I ever ran into your canon counterparts a second time. I knew I couldn't carry out my plan alone, so I found other villains in other worlds and convinced them to join in my plan by making them think I had their best interests and desires in mind."

Snivels instantly knew what the young villain meant by that last statement. "You never intended to keep the promises you made to the other villains, did you?"

Hroar turned to the Servine, his evil smile never faltering. "So what if I lied? With the Red Fatalis by my side, every hero and villain in the Multiverse will be bowing before me!"

"How did you even create that thing?" Adhesive asked, a little too eagerly.

Hroar shrugged. "I'll admit it wasn't easy. I had to get used to the technology of your world before I could send that virus to keep you all good and distracted while I hacked the system and stole those samples of Red Death and Fatalis DNA you had for scientific purposes. I suppose I was fortunate enough to have villains who were good with computers to assist me with all that. Still took me a long while to figure out the whole techno gig. I usually let the villains I fooled do all the more dirty work for me while I focus on my goal. Why take out just one version of Hiccup when you can take all of them out? Without him, there won't be anyone left to stand in my way!"

If Snivels had eyebrows, he would have raised one. "Well, what about us? We can still stop you!"

Hroar chuckled evilly. "Not while being digested by a Rancor, you can't. Guards!"

The two guards that had escorted the young villain towards the cell earlier came right in.

"Chain those Go-Getters and get them ready for our friend's little picnic lunch!"

One of the guards held out the cloak Hroar had taken off before his little charade to try and trick his prisoners. "What about this?"

The young villain sneered. "I won't be needing that anymore."

* * *

 _ **Back Where We Left Off**_

The roar of the Rancor sent chills down everyone's spines. The group of six was chained together in a sort of pattern, with the Pokémon in front of their trainers. Snivels came first, then Hiccup (the HtBaT version, to be precise), Blaze, Astrid, Ninjark, and finally Heather.

Hiccup instinctively moved in front of Astrid in an attempt to shield her from the angry monster's clutches as it reached through the bars of its cage to grab them. Thank Arceus the group was still too far away for the beast to reach them.

Snivels looked around, hoping to find something that could help them escape. He and Blaze had tried using their moves to break free, but the chains that restrained them were made from an element that neutralized Pokémon attacks. They needed to find a different method of escaping. Snivels suddenly noticed that one of the heavily-armored guards had a ring of keys on his belt.

And just like that, he had an idea.

"Ninjark, quick question. Can you reach your frubbles?"

The group of six each had their hands chained by the wrists, but they could still move them naturally.

"I'm pretty sure I can," was the Frogadier's reply.

Snivels looked at his friend. "Grab a handful, stick it to your palm, and then throw it at the guys that guard has."

Ninjark did as he was suggested. Since a Frogadier's frubbles weren't an official Pokémon attack, the element in the chains failed to neutralize the substance. The ball of frubbles stuck to his hand and stretched out when he threw it towards the ring of keys on the guard's belt. The keys stuck to the frubbles as they stretched back and into Ninjark's palm.

But unfortunately, the guard noticed.

"Hey!"

From there, things rapidly escalated into a dangerous game of keep-away. From trainer, to Pokémon, and then back to trainer again, the keys were tossed between the group of six in an effort to free each other while confusing the guards.

Unfortunately, they forgot about the Rancor.

The beast was roaring with anger over its delayed meal, its arms reaching out from between the bars of its cage to grab anything it found delectable. Most of the guards weren't lucky enough to avoid the Rancor's might swings, and were knocked unconscious.

Snivels had just caught the ring of keys when a blow from the Rancor's powerful arms sent him and the rest of his friends into the air. They might have been very lucky, or very unlucky, as they ended up landing on top of the cage that held the Rancor. The beast's eyes turned up to find its victims literally hanging over its head. The guard that was supposed to be handling the lever that opened and closed the cage was knocked out cold from the Rancor's earlier frenzy. He slumped to the ground, the lever in his hand breaking in half.

That got the six members of Team Go-Getters cheering in relief.

Then the door to the Rancor's cage suddenly came off its hinges (possibly weakened by said creature's temper tantrum) and fell to the ground with a clang.

Team Go-Getters' cheers immediately turned into groans of fear and disappointment.

Growling with hunger, the Rancor squeezed its way through the doorway of its cage before picking up the detached door and throwing it into the lava pit below. It then turned back towards the cage it had just exited, eying its prey.

From a ledge safely above the pit, Hroar and a few other guards were watching. The young villain cheered out in triumph. "Yes! It's feeding time!"

One of the more sensitive guards suddenly came forward with a plate of food. "What about your lunch, sir?"

Hroar looked annoyed at having his moment ruined, but he was feeling rather hungry. He forced a smile and turned toward the guard. "Don't mind if I do."

With Hroar momentarily distracted, Snivels took the opportunity to start looking on the key ring for the key that would remove their restraints. He failed to notice the Rancor approaching the cage before it roared, startling everyone. The key ring slipped through Snivels's leafy fingers and landed on a metal bar of the cage, which was hanging over the lava pit. The only things keeping the cage from falling into the lava was a set of heavy-clad chains attached to each corner from the rocky ceiling above.

Snivels eyed the keys for a few seconds before tugging on the one chain that connected him and his friends together, in order to get their attention. "This way!"

With the Servine leading, the group carefully made their way to the edge of the cage, on their hands and knees, and started climbing down the bars like it was a jungle gym.

Hiccup sucked in a breath at the sight of the lava pit below them. "Okay, I see where you're going with this..."

The sound of the Rancor's angry roar got them all moving faster.

Astrid wouldn't show it, but she was just as afraid as the rest of her friends in that situation. She found it best not to look back over her shoulder at the space beast that was starting to climb up on the opposite side of the cage. "I officially prefer our dimension."

Heather let out a near-scream as one of the Rancor's hands barely missed her. "That makes two of us!"

At that time, Snivels had squeezed himself through the bars of the cage and was now walking towards the keys inside the bottom of the Rancor's containment. It was a narrow path, so he, Hiccup and Blaze had to carefully move across like they were on a tightrope.

Meanwhile, at the top, the Water of Six and his Trainer of Destiny were having a bit of a holdup. The Frogadier's eyes were fixated on the lava below, which even a Water-Type couldn't withstand for very long if they fell in it, and grasped one of the suspension chains like a lifeline.

"Um, this may not be the best time to tell you guys, but I actually flunked tree-climbing in survival school."

Heather was too distracted by her partner's predicament to notice that the Rancor had pulled itself up onto the top of the cage.

Ninjark didn't notice the beast, either, and continued. "I just couldn't get a good grip on the branches, and..."

He was cut off when the Rancor swung its arm at them, knocking both him and Heather off of the cage. Because of the long chain connecting the six friends to each other, Astrid found herself falling as well. The combined weight of the two teenaged girls and the Frogadier proved to be enough to pull Blaze through the back of the cage and down towards the lava pit, thanks to the gravity pulling them down.

Hiccup cried out as a sharp tug on his back signaled that he was also about to fall. "Whoa!"

Just like that, he and Snivels were pulled toward the back of the cage just before the Servine could grab the ring of keys. Knowing that they'd be dead not long after they all hit the lava, Snivels quickly turned himself around so that he was facing the bars of the back of the cage, and grabbed onto the metal bars with his arms and tail before he could be pulled through. While it stopped him and his friends from falling into the lava pit far below, the cage shook as Snivels forcibly grabbed the bars to stop their fall. The vibration shook the ring of keys, which fell through the bars that made up the bottom of the cage. Snivels watched helplessly as the keys descended towards the lava pit far below.

Fortunately, Astrid somehow managed to catch the ring of keys while she and the others were swinging back and forth from the momentum they had gained from their fall. Gradually, their swinging came to a stop, and they all caught their breath.

Ninjark noticed that Astrid had the keys in her hand and got excited. "Oh, great, you caught them." He reached for the keys, but missed. When Astrid looked down at him, he gestured to himself and Heather. "Unlock us!"

Astrid was wide-eyed for a moment before she glared in annoyance. "Are you even paying attention?"

Ninjark frowned in confusion before looking behind himself and noticing the lava pit, which he had momentarily forgotten about in his moment of joy. He gasped and grabbed onto the group's mutual chain for support.

"Oh, uh...that's right, it can wait. Later."

Snivels strained to hold on to the cage with the combined weight of his friends pulling downwards. "Stop...moving! I don't know how much longer I can hold on!"

The Rancor let out another roar, this one louder than all the others.

That got Hroar's attention.

The young villain's eyes widened in shock at the situation, for he had assumed that the Rancor had finished eating its victims. He hastily spat out the food that he had been chewing before yelling out in anger.

"More guards!"

The heavily armored men were hesitant, but complied when the young villain threatened to throw them into the lava pit himself.

Snivels looked over his shoulder and watched helplessly as the guards advanced on the cage.

"Hey!"

The guards stopped and looked up to find an alternate version of Hiccup, dressed in a red and black superhero outfit that vaguely resembled a dragon, standing on a ledge nearby. Around his neck was a choker necklace with a bead-like pendant on it.

The Dragon Miraculous.

Miraculous Hiccup jumped down so that he was standing in front of the heavily armored men.

"Why don't you guards pick on someone your own size?"

He unsheathed his weapon, a red-bladed sword, and started fighting off the guards.

Before any of the still-chained Go-Getters could ask, a wormhole opened above them, and Kuro emerged. "He's not the only one who responded to my message. Perhaps, with all this lava, some of you might need to cool off?"

He moved aside, and an Articuno flew through the wormhole behind him. This Articuno looked very similar to Arctic, but its left wing was a prosthetic, which was being operated by yet another version of Hiccup, who was riding on the Freeze Pokémon's back.

Frostless (the Articuno) screeched out a battle cry as he used his Ice Beam to put some of the guards on ice, literally.

There wasn't time for anyone to be confused as to how Articuno would be a viable replacement for a Night Fury, since Snivels's grip was rapidly loosening. If they didn't do something soon, they'd all plummet into the lava pit. Or worse, end up inside the Rancor's stomach.

Panicking, HtBaT Hiccup looked around frantically for anything that could save them. His eyes landed on Kuro, who looked back into the wormhole before nodding at the one-legged hero. HtBaT Hiccup looked back up at his Pokémon partner.

"Snivels, let go!"

The rest of Team Go-Getters was shocked at that. Even Astrid. "What?!"

Heather quickly protested. "No, don't let go!"

Hiccup ignored the two girls. He called out to Snivels, "Trust me!"

The Servine's eyes were about as wide as dinner plates. He wasn't sure what to do, but he certainly wasn't going to let himself and his friends die in a lava pit.

Blaze wasn't too keen on the idea either. "Two words: la-va!"

Still, Hiccup was unfazed. His eyes locked with Snivels's as he repeated his last phrase.

"Trust me."

Snivels looked less surprised. He knew his trainer, he wouldn't ask of such a dangerous task if he didn't have a plan.

So, he let go.

The group of six all screamed as they plummeted towards the lava pit. The Rancor roared as it leaped after them, determined to get its meal.

Hroar was still up on the ledge overlooking the scene, anticipating for his chained adversaries to perish either in the lava or in the Rancor's deigestive system.

At the last minute, a large dragon the color of burnt maroon, with some black mixed into his scales, darted out of the wormhole, diving down and grabbing the one chain that held the six Go-Getters together in his talons before pulling up sharply so as to avoid the lava. Within moments, Team Go-Getters was safely above the pit while the Rancor was left to its doom. It roared out one last time before its body was unlogically submerged in the lava pit.

The dragon set the six chained heroes down on a ledge well over the scene before flying back to Kuro. The Necrozma gave the dragon a curt nod.

"You did well, Windracer."

The dragon, Windracer, nodded back before leaving through the wormhole, back to his own dimension.

Team Go-Getters didn't pay attention to their savior's departure. They were too busy removing their chains with the keys Astrid held on to throughout the endeavor.

But then they found Hroar standing over them. He'd brought himself up to their ledge via a dimensional rift he summoned with the Griseous Orb.

He wasn't the only one there. Hawk Moth and Malefor had been summoned by him for reinforcements.

The young villain chuckled. "I have to say, I am impressed with your determination. But did you really think you could survive in here? We're all playing by my rules here."

A large Varusaburosu wearing Stoick's helmet swung its tail, knocking all six of the cornered heroes in the head and knocking them out.

The Red Fatalis's paw suddenly reached out from a dimensional rift that had appeared next to Kuro's wormhole. It grabbed the Necrozma, who managed to shout a warning to Miraculous Hiccup and Trainers of Berk Hiccup (the one riding the Articuno). With a screech, Frostless made a u-turn and grabbed Miraculous Hiccup in his talons before all three retreated through the wormhole, which closed behind them.

Hroar smiled evilly.

"Game over."

* * *

 **Me: I've been looking forward to writing this chapter ever since the Across the Distortion World arc began!**

 **Adhesive: Yeah, that's great, now can you get us out of here?!**

 **Arachne: I kinda like sharing a room with my role model. I can see why Hiccup built a shrine to her in his room.**

 **Adhesive: He did what?**

 **Arachne: Oops, I probably shouldn't have said that...**

 **Me: Anyone who wants more info on Hroar can find it on the HtTYD wiki. Oh, and reviews are appreciated.**


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10: United We Stand

 **Me: Well, we're getting closer to the end of this story arc. Now I have to set the stage for the final battle.**

 **Adhesive: Just as long as everything doesn't go blowing up in our faces, I'm good.**

 **Arachne: And as long as Snivels and the other Go-Getters are okay.**

 **Me: Don't worry, fangirl, they will be.**

* * *

Snivels awoke with a groan, his head still aching from the blow he had received from Manstre. When he stood, he found himself once again in a cell, but this one was more sophisticated. He walked up to the bars and peered out, finding his friends, including the dragons and monsters, that were each individually locked in a multitude of cells down a hallway much longer than those in the mansion.

They were in the Distortion World Prison.

Snivels turned to the sound of an evil chuckle and found Hroar standing not too far away. The Servine's eyes narrowed in anger.

Hroar slowly approached the Prince of Pokémon's cell. "It's funny. You go through all the trouble to escape your confinement, and you end up right back at square one. As honorable as it is for you to try and save your friend, I'm afraid your efforts are all in vain."

He reached the cell that was holding HtBaT Astrid, and if looks could kill, he'd have dropped dead on the spot. But he ignored her glare. "My kindred spirit, it was never my intention to harm you. If only you could see just how much better I am than that boyfriend of yours. I'd make you my queen, and we'd rule over the entire Multiverse, two young souls in love."

If Astrid was a dragon, she would have snarled in anger. "Over my dead body!"

Hroar barely flinched at that. "Suit yourself. I may never know what you see in that toothpick, but if you cooperate well enough, I might consider sparing you." He turned and started to leave before stopping and looking back at her over his shoulder. "And by that, I don't mean your life."

Astrid's eyes widened as she realized exactly what Hroar was planning to do with her as soon as he was finished eliminating all of the Hiccups he had captured.

The young villain made his way to the door that was the exit. "Sorry to leave so early, but I have bigger dragons to slay, if you know what I mean."

Astrid started ramming into the bars of her cell, hoping to jar them loose. "You won't get away with this!"

Hroar shrugged as he pulled the door open and stepped out. "Oh, my kindred spirit, can't you see? I already have." He then left, shutting the door behind him.

Astrid didn't stop trying to dislodge the bars to her cell, ramming her shoulder into them with more ferocity. She didn't care if she dislocated her arm, she needed to get out.

Blaze, seeing no other option, joined in, ramming herself against the bars of her own cell, which was right next to her trainer's. "We've gotta keep trying!"

"That was the first thing we tried."

The voice belonged to Drageist, who was in his Origin Forme, and was also being held in a cell, this one much larger than most of the others. "Each cell is specially designed to neutralize the powers and abilities of whoever is held in them so they cannot escape. Even I can't get myself out of here."

"That doesn't mean we should give up!" Snivels said, determinedly. "There has to be a way out of here!"

MoB Snotlout, who was somehow still as arrogant as ever despite being held in an inescapable cell, scoffed. "And exactly how do you plan on doing that?"

In all honesty, Snivels didn't know exactly how, but he certainly wasn't about to give up. "We can get out of here! I mean, we've got..." He looked around frantically. "We're all still in one piece, we have each other for support, and..." He looked down at the floor and grabbed a handful of the rocks and sand below him in desperation. "We've got sand!"

"Great!" Snotlout said sarcastically, "Maybe we can make an hourglass and watch the time slip away!"

Snivels took that as a sign to keep looking for answers.

* * *

Hroar chuckled as he watched the many villains from nearly every single dimension in the Multiverse take over Ultra Megalopolis. He'd promised every one of them the power to conquer their home worlds, but of course, they were all just lies. Like Snivels had said, Hroar was making fake promises to use the other villains as pawns in his plan.

The young villain was standing on the top floor of the Megalo Tower, where he had a view of the entire city. The Ultra Guardians were all being held prisoner in the basement of their own workplace, so he was free to do whatever he pleased with the tower. He had already set two of the computer screens (with very much difficulty, of course) to display the many different versions of Hiccup he had captured and the Red Fatalis, who was almost fully recovered from Sightless's virus blast.

"Soon, you'll be at full strength," Hroar muttered as he watched his creation on the screen. "And all those heroes will know what it's like to be humiliated in defeat!"

The Red Fatalis couldn't hear him, but she still growled in anticipation as the last of the virus dispersed.

* * *

Snivels was in a panic, desperately digging in the dirt and sand that was the floor of his cell. His original plan was to try and dig under the barred doors, but it didn't take him long to realize that the ground laying underneath the thin layer of sand and dirt was too solid to even leave a dent in. And that made him even more desperate to find a way out. "There's gotta be...some minerals or...something. I mean, we can't just be stuck here!"

Blaze had sat down and was watching her friend since childhood dig around in the dirt like a Sandile. She sighed and turned to look at Arachne, who was leaning up against the bars of her own cell to try and see what her Servine friend was doing. "I've known Snivels since childhood, but I have never seen him like this. He's usually very smart, always thinking things through before he acts, so he gets it right the first time. That's part of why I used to have a crush..." She stopped, realizing what she was about to say. She quickly shrugged it off and gestured to Snivels. "And now look at him."

As if on cue, Snivels popped up holding an odd-colored rock he had just dug up. "Look, some feldspar! There's gotta be something we can do with this stuff!" He looked at it for a few seconds before throwing it away in frustration. "Oh, no, that's ridiculous!"

Now Batwings was also watching. "I haven't known him anywhere near as long as you, but even I have to admit he's being rather irrational."

Arachne looked depressed for a moment before she stood as tall as she could with a determined look on her face. "Well, I'm not giving up on him! He helped me pull through when I became Sirenide, and he helped me realize that I shouldn't let what happened to Venomwing slow me down. Snivels would never give up on his friends, and neither will I!"

Blaze gave the ten year old girl a smile. "That's exactly the way Go-Getters are." Then she looked thoughtful.

Batwings noticed. "What is it?"

The Blaziken looked up at the Siren. "I just thought of something Drageist said earlier today. This prison was also enchanted to eternally trap prisoners with lying hearts."

Arachne looked confused. "But Snivels..." She gasped in realization before finishing her sentence. "...Isn't a liar!" She turned to Batwings, who now looked rather hopeful.

"If that is so..."

The three of them turned to look at Snivels, who was still frantic. "We could...we could...dig a tunnel under all the cells! And then we could...we could...we...we...we can't." He gave up. "I can't...I can't believe there's nothing we can do!" He sighed sadly before sitting down. "Well, I guess we could all just sit and wait for the inevitable end."

Blaze looked the most shocked at what the Servine had just said. "No."

Snivels turned to look at her. "What do you mean no?"

The female Blaziken took this as a sign to stand up. "No, you are not going to just sit there! The Snivels I know would never give up, even if there was a chance his plan wouldn't work! You can get out of here!"

But Snivels just shook his head. "But, Blaze, there's nothing here for me to work with!"

"You don't need it," Blaze insisted. "Remember? Drageist said this prison forever holds prisoners with lying hearts. You're not a liar, Snivels! You just need to get out of your cell and find a way to free the rest of us! I know you can do it. We all do!"

Amazed, Snivels stood up, his eyes never leaving his friend. "Blaze..." He sucked in a breath before looking determined. "Alright, I'll try." He slowly backed up until he was pressed against the back wall of his cell. He eyed the bars that had been keeping him trapped within the small room. After a moment, he shut his eyes.

"This one's for you, Hic."

His eyes shot open and he charged straight at the bars of his cell. At the last moment, he turned to the side, exposing his shoulder. He rammed into the bars, which shook for a moment before they suddenly, and mysteriously, dislodged completely and fell to the ground with a loud *clang!* Snivels cried out as he fell over, but he immediately shot up and looked behind him to see that he had indeed made it out of his cell.

The sound of the metal bars falling over caught the attention of everyone who was within hearing distance. The members of Team Go-Getters were the most impressed.

Ninjark looked like he was ready to stick his head out from between the bars of his own cell. "Did you see what Snivels just did?"

The Servine didn't stop to listen. He picked himself off the ground and ran over to Drageist's cell. "How do I free everyone else?"

The Giratina looked down at him. "Just leave that to me. I couldn't do this earlier because I was weakened, but now I have just enough power to release everyone from their cells." He raised the streamer-like appendages on his back, emitting a ghostly aura. A second later, the bars to all the cells vanished, leaving the formerly imprisoned heroes free to walk out unharmed.

There was just one thing that was bothering Adhesive. "How was Snivels able to escape when no one else was? We all know he's not the only one here who doesn't have a lying heart."

Drageist looked thoughtful. "Hroar must have done something to try and make sure none of us could get out. Thank Arceus he didn't know enough about Snivels."

The Poipole shrugged. "It's just, well, it's kind of a plot hole, isn't it?"

Drageist thought for a few seconds before giving a curt nod of agreement. "You're not wrong."

* * *

It didn't take long for Team Go-Getters to gather their dragon friends, and the additional friends they made while traveling through dimensions, but coming up with the perfect a battle strategy wasn't easy.

"Alright," Snivels said with a surprising amount of calmness. "There are innocent lives at stake, and if we're going to save them, we all have to work together. That goes for you, too, Snotface."

The arrogant Jorgenson actually growled in frustration as his Tigrex Monstie gave a monster version of a laugh.

"This isn't going to be easy," Ninjark stated obviously. "Whatever dimension those villains are in, they'll be everywhere."

Snivels shook his head. "I know that, but it might be the only chance we have. I'd never ask my friends to do something I knew they couldn't do. Sure, one of us could take down a villain or two, but a whole army? None of us can do that alone. I'm not asking as the Prince of Pokémon, I'm asking as your friend. Help me get our friend back."

Arachne stared at the Servine wide-eyed. "Prince?!"

It suddenly dawned on Snivels that he hadn't told any of the Monster Riders the significance of his heritage. "Right, I'm, uh...next in line for the throne. Perhaps I forgot to mention?"

The ten year old girl's expression quickly died down. "I don't know if any of the Riders can do what you expect, and I'm still a kid. I'll bet you've already done a whole slew of cool stuff. The world practically belongs to you."

Snivels shook his head. "The world doesn't belong to me, it belongs to everyone." He gestured to Team Go-Getters before turning to face the Monster Riders and Adhesive. "Each of our worlds belongs to all who live in it. Those villains don't have the right to take it all for themselves. They made the mistake of thinking they're all better than we are. But they're wrong. If we all stand together, we can show them what it means to be a Go-Getter."

"But I'm not a Go-Getter," Fishlegs spoke up as he tried to soothe Heatray by rubbing the scales on her back.

Adhesive shook his head. "Neither am I."

Snivels gave them a determined smile. "We're all Go-Getters today. Every hero from every dimension has an opportunity to show what they can do, right here and right now. I'm still not sure how we're going to do it, but we need to act, and we need to act fast."

Drageist suddenly arrived with something hanging on one of his appendages. "Snivels is right. More of Hiccup's counterparts are being captured as we speak, including the one who wields this." He lowered his appendage to reveal that he was holding the Dragon Miraculous. "I managed to grab it before they caught him. I couldn't let it fall into the wrong hands." He handed the choker necklace to Snivels. "Everyone in the Multiverse looks to you, young prince."

Snivels looked thoughtful for a moment before he asked the Giratina, "How many heroes saw the Code White message?"

Drageist smiled. "I'll gather them." He turned to Adhesive whilst summoning a dimensional portal. "Go to Ultra Megalopolis and find Kuro."

The Poipole promptly left through the portal, only to return a minute later. "Those villains have taken over the whole city!"

"Then that's where we're going," Snivels said.

"And I know now where to send those who will aide us in the fight," Drageist added.

Snivels looked at the Dragon Miraculous he was holding before handing it back to the Giratina. "I think you and I both know the perfect person to wield this."

Drageist smiled. "You are right, Snivels." He reached out and took back the choker necklace before summoning a dimensional portal. He turned to Adhesive. "Use that portal to get to the city. I'll join you all shortly." When the Poipole gave a nod, the Giratina departed.

No sooner had he left, Heather shifted herself a little closer to Batwings, rubbing her arm nervously. "Listen, there's...something I need to say to you. Just in case this doesn't work."

The Siren looked intrigued.

"I've kinda, sorta got a crush..." the raven-haired girl started, but was cut off when Batwings put a clawed finger over her lips. Heather looked up at him, and he gave her a warm, knowing smile. She couldn't help but smile back at him, silently praying to Arceus above that there was a guy like him somewhere back at home.

Snivels and Arachne had witnessed the whole scene. It wasn't Hiccstrid, but it was still very touching to them. Their attention shifted to Adhesive, who was hovering near the portal leading to Ultra Megalopolis.

"Hey, can we try that disappearing hand thing?" Ruffnut suddenly asked.

She and her brother ended up getting annoyed glares from everyone.

* * *

The Red Fatalis stood tall over Ultra Megalopolis, completely Gore Magala virus-free. One of her eight eyes had spotted Hroar through the windows of the Megalo Tower. Normally, she was very destructive and malicious, but she was smart enough to recognize the villain behind her creation.

"Soon, my beautiful monster," Hroar said, "Soon, you'll have your fill."

Yes, the maniac of a teenager was planning to have the Red Fatalis eat every single version of Hiccup that existed in the Multiverse. But first, he needed her to dispose of the competition the other villains displayed. Hroar gestured to every evildoer he had gathered in the city.

"You can start with them."

As per her master's command, the Red Fatalis gave a roar and was about to charge in for the inevitable killing spree when dimensional portals began opening all over Ultra Megalopolis.

Drageist emerged from the largest of the portals in his Altered Forme.

"The problem with all you villains is: you always underestimate your opponents."

Multiple heroes, too many for Hroar to even begin counting, emerged from the portals throughout the city. Humans, animals and even otherworldly beings who fought for the side of good were lining up to face the army of villains.

The second-largest dimensional portal signaled the arrival of Adhesive, Team Go-Getters and the Monster Riders. Even Ratha and Rathi looked ready to do battle. Snivels, who was on Toothless's back, noticed Amber and the other Pokémon and dragons that had stayed behind at the Ice Caves in their own dimension earlier that day. Confused, he looked up at Drageist, who smiled.

"For a fight like this, we need all the help we can get. Care to lead us in?"

Snivels smiled and nodded, looking around at all who had gathered before staring ahead at the conspiracy of villains.

"Everyone, together!"

Both sides charged forward into what was going to be the biggest battle in the history of the Multiverse.

* * *

 **Me: I didn't name any specific heroes because I wanted you all to imagine the kinds of heroes you'd like to see in it. And I didn't know where to start with naming them all off!**

 **Ninjark: That's quite thoughtful and considerate of you.**

 **Blaze: Yeah, yeah. Less talking, more action!**

 **Snivels: Am I the only one who's going to be breaking the fourth wall in this story?**

 **Ninjark: Doing what?**

 **Snivels: I'll explain later.**

 **Me: Review if you guys want to read about the most awesome battle ever in the next chapter!**


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11: The Ultimate Crossover

 **Me: Since there are supposed to be a lot of creatures and characters from so many different worlds participating in the final battle, it's basically become one giant crossover story, hence the chapter title.**

 **Ninjark: Thank you for very much clarifying the meaning of the chapter title.**

 **Blaze: Get back in the fight, there are lives at stake!**

 **Snivels: Don't have to tell us twice.**

* * *

No one knew who threw the first punch that started the fight. But they all knew one thing - the life-sized version of Duels and Distortions had just begun.

Snivels and Toothless evaded blows that were traded from both sides as they desperately tried to reach Megalo Tower before it was too late. If they failed, not only would every Hiccup in the Multiverse cease to exist, but the entire balance of the Multiverse itself would collapse. But they duo had never been to Ultra Megalopolis, so the fastest route to Megalo Tower was a mystery to them.

From his position on the Night Fury's back, Snivels found Adhesive flying around above the battle, firing his poison at any weak spots the villains had exposed.

"Adhesive!"

The Poipole turned at the sound of his name. Snivels gestured to the layout of the city ahead.

"We could use a guide."

Smiling at the thought of being useful, Adhesive flew ahead of them. Snivels readjusted himself so that he could reach the stirrup that operated Toothless's prosthetic tail fin. Within seconds, the Night Fury was in the air, flying at a steady pace so Adhesive could show them the way.

Below them, all of Team Go-Getters was fighting, each member working with another as a real show of teamwork.

Astrid and Blaze were probably fighting the hardest. The former to save her husband, and the latter to cover her trainer's back. But even a Blaziken as strong as Blaze was could suffer the consequences of being outnumbered and outgunned.

Especially with Manstre rampaging around and transforming into different monsters. The form he used the most was the Deviljho, most likely due to its strength and ferocity.

Blaze cried out as she barely avoided the Deviljho's breath attack. "Doesn't this guy ever need to rest? He's been changing like crazy!"

"We picked a fine time to leave the Blazikenite and Key Stone back in our own dimension!" Astrid added as she deflected a blow from Manstre's tail with her axe.

Kickin' Hawk was suddenly there, hanging onto Manstre's head as he tried to hit the helmet he was wearing with Brick Break. The akumatized villain easily knew what the Hawlucha was up to and shook him off with ease before transforming into a Gurenzeburu and flying up and out of reach.

Blaze noticed that Manstre was panting rather heavily. "Those transformations _are_ tiring him out!"

Astrid noticed something else that was very important. "Do you see that helmet? That thing has got to be Stoick!"

At that time, Kickin' Hawk had recovered from being thrown off of Manstre. "Hawk Moth's doing, no doubt. If we break the helmet, he'll go back to normal."

Blaze gave her mate a look of annoyance, but in an affectionate manner. "Uh-huh. And how are we supposed to do that? We couldn't hit him with a double-bladed axe, even if we wanted to!"

Drageist arrived and extended one of his wings to show the necklace that held Blaze's Blazilenite and Astrid's Key Stone sitting precariously on two of the red tips that resembled claws. "I took the precaution of retrieving these, in case you needed a boost. You're the only ones who can use this power so far, and now's as good a time as any to use it."

Heather had her hands full trying to avoid a pack of Xenomorphs, but she there was enough time for her to state, "I thought you said you hadn't tested it yet."

Astrid shook her head. "We haven't."

"So, test it," Drageist said, simply.

Astrid and Blaze exchanged a look before the Blaziken smiled and put on the necklace.

"Let's do this."

Astrid returned her partner's smile as she secured the Key Stone into the pendant she was wearing. It fit perfectly in the hole that was at the center of the cross-like wheel that resembled that of Arceus.

"You only need to touch the Key Stone," Kickin' Hawk reminded. "The bond between the two of you will do the rest."

Blaze looked back at Astrid and pointed at the Blazikenite in her necklace to signal she was ready.

A light touch on the Key Stone was all it took.

Beams of bright, rainbow-colored light burst out of both the Key Stone and the Blazikenite, arching together like bolts of lighting in a mad scientist film. The connection between the two sources of light started Blaze's evolution.

Arachne easily noticed. "I don't know what this is, but I can tell it's gonna be awesome!"

Kickin' Hawk looked grim. "As long as Blaze doesn't freak out," he said.

"Freak out?" Arachne repeated in confusion.

"It happens sometimes when a Pokémon Mega Evolves," Drageist explained. "They lose control of themselves from all of the extra power they've gained. They'll attack anything that moves, and completely stop listening to their trainers."

Arachne shuddered. "That sounds awful."

"It is," Kickin' Hawk confirmed. "And it could happen right now."

And if it did, they would be in real trouble.

The rainbow-colored light enveloped Blaze as she began to change. The fire on her wrists elongated into ribbons, her yellow markings turned black as coal, and the feathers on her head became more wing-like in shape and pointed upward.

There was a short burst of rainbow light in the form of the Mega Evolution symbol before it finally dispersed, revealing a fully transformed Blaze. The Mega Blaziken stood still for a moment, her eyes downcast.

Astrid took a cautious step forward. "Blaze?"

Said Mega Blaziken looked back at her trainer. Her blue eyes looked firm, but calm and controlled. Blaze smiled and gave her trainer a thumbs-up.

Astrid let out a breath she'd never admit she'd been holding.

Manstre, who was still in his Gurenzeburu form, shot a beam of water that barely missed the Mega Blaziken. At her trainer's command, Blaze retaliated with a Flamethrower, this one much more powerful than the ones she used as a normal Blaziken. The flames scorched Manstre, who shrieked in pain before transforming into his Varusaburosu form. He stayed airborne for about a minute before descending slowly and collapsing to the ground, exhausted from the constant transformations.

Immediately, Astrid and Blaze saw the opportunity.

"Grab his helmet!"

Before they could, however, a dark mist surrounded Manstre as his form changed one last time. He grew bigger, even bigger than a Deviljho, stopping at about 25 stories in height. The mist lifted, revealing a large, ugly creature that looked like an albino bat without any wing membranes. The creature stood up and let out an unearthly shriek that would have made Alvin and Dagur cry like babies.

"Not fair!" Arachne cried. "Since when do monsters from other dimensions count?"

"Clover may not be from your world," Drageist said. "But, technically, it _is_ a monster."

A Xenomorph's shriek brought their attention to Heather. She was very nearly surrounded by the bloodthirsty extraterrestrials from another dimension. Manstre-turned-Clover saw them too, and let out another shriek that made the Xenomorphs freeze in place. They all turned simultaneously to look up at the giant monster. After standing still for a few brief moments, the aliens ran away, whimpering, with the points of their tails tucked in between their legs like dogs that were being scolded.

It would have been funny if the situation hadn't been so serious.

Because if even the Xenomorphs were running away from Clover, you'd best be running from it, too.

"I kinda miss the old, grumpy-about-everything Stoick," Blaze muttered as the shadow of Manstre's Clover form fell over her and Astrid.

Even the hard-to-scare Hofferson-Haddock girl was nervous at the sight of the creature.

"You and me, both."

* * *

It really didn't take long for Adhesive to show Snivels and Toothless to the Megalo Tower. Once they were inside, Snivels sniffed the air for Hroar's scent, which wasn't hard to distinguish. "He's gone up to the roof."

"Elevator's ahead," Adhesive said, pointing across the room.

Since the elevator was built big enough for a Guzzlord and a few other Ultra Beasts to fit in it at one time, there was plenty of room for Toothless to go in with Snivels and Adhesive.

The windows on the elevator gave them a full view of the battlefield that had become of Ultra Megalopolis. There were too many heroes and villains to count, but Adhesive was able to point out a few he knew very well - the Canon Dragon Riders of Berk, an array of superheroes (some of which were somehow able to mask their identities with simple domino masks), the Monster Riders, the Skylanders, mindless killing machines like the Xenomorphs, Malefor, some sort of robot called Ultron, and Stoick in his Manstre form.

Snivels stared out at all the fighting. "Everyone in the Multiverse is putting their life on the line for something that could either save the balance of it all, or destroy it completely. Good and evil, light and dark, the Multiverse needs them both. Without balance, there's no harmony. I learned that during the time of war in my world. Like me, some heroes have suffered more than others, and that gives them a reason to keep fighting. But we aren't guaranteed tomorrow. We aren't even guaranteed the rest of today. All we have is the now. That's why we can't let even one day of our lives go to waste. Because, well, you never know. It could very well be your last."

Toothless let out a croon of agreement.

Adhesive was very nearly moved to tears by that speech. "And I thought that much wisdom could only come from a Legendary Pokémon."

"You pick up a few lessons, living on your own for a while," was Snivels's reply.

The elevator slowed to a stop, then dinged before the doors opened. The Night Fury and two Pokémon stepped out to find themselves in a computer room - the same one where Adhesive had given Blaze and Ninjark a tour of earlier that day.

"This is as far up as the elevator can take us," the Poipole explained. "We'll have to take the stairs the rest of the way."

Snivels and Toothless started following their Ultra Beast friend to the door across the room that led to the stairs when the Servine noticed something intriguing on the screen of Adhesive's computer.

"'Hiccstrid Wins 2017 Best Couple of Fandom Tournament'?"

Adhesive quickly flew over and blocked the computer screen from Snivels's view, his cheeks pink with embarrassment.

"Hey, that's private!"

* * *

Manstre wasn't the absolute most dangerous villain on the battlefield, but he was more Team Go-Getters and the Monster Riders' problem than any of the other villains were at the time.

Blaze tried hitting him with a Sky Uppercut, but even in her Mega Evolved form, the attack didn't break the skin, let alone make him flinch.

They needed a new plan.

"Spread out," Astrid suggested. "Maybe we can corner him."

No one else had any better ideas, so they went with it.

Manstre turned to find Batwings in his Siren form right up in his face, hissing menacingly. He went to step to the right, but found Astrid, Blaze and Stormfly blocking him off. He tried to step to the left, but his back feet had been glued to the ground with Ninjark's frubbles, which he used while the akumatized villain was distracted. Everywhere Manstre turned, a Go-Getter or Monster Rider was cutting him off. Immobilized and surrounded, Manstre could do nothing but let out an unearthly roar.

Snotlout couldn't resist jeering. "Big, tough guy scared of a few kids? Ha! Some villain!"

Manstre heard him, and leaned down to look the arrogant rider and his Tigrex Monstie in the eye, growling angrily.

The teen Jorgenson very nearly messed his pants. "Just kidding?"

Manstre raised one of his long, Clover arms and whacked the boy-and-monster duo into a faraway building. Grunting, the large monster pulled himself free of the frubbles and let out a triumphant roar.

Heather's shoulders fell. "That didn't work."

"Snotface Jorgenstink strikes again," Blaze grumbled.

Ninjark noticed that Manstre was about to stomp on Heather, so he did what any Go-Getter would do. He ran forward and pushed her out of the way.

"Look out!"

The next thing anyone knew, the Frogadier was completely crushed underneath the front right foot of Manstre's Clover form. The akumatized villain didn't seem to acknowledge that he had stepped on someone.

Heather was in shock. She called out for her partner. "Ninjark!"

No response.

Angry and upset, the raven-haired girl turned to her dragon friend. "Windshear, spines! Now!"

The Razorwhip obliged.

But her tail spines all ended up bouncing harmlessly off of Clover's thick, almost impenetrable, skin.

Swift the Nargacuga tried her own spines, but they had the exact same effect.

Ratha and Rathi's fireballs didn't leave so much as a scorch mark, but they did get Manstre's attention. He started chasing after the baby Rathalos and Rathian, lifting his foot off of Ninjark. Heather instantly ran to her partner's side. He was badly bruised, but alive.

"Ninjark, are you alright?"

The Frogadier's response was a soft groan before a bright light nearly blinded his trainer. Heather shielded her eyes, her concern for Ninjark growing.

She needn't worry too much, because when the light faded, he was standing up tall.

But he wasn't a Frogadier anymore.

He was a Greninja.

Pokémon and trainer locked eyes, and with a nod, they were back in the action.

"Let's go, Ninjark!"

No one was exactly sure what happened next, but Heather's newly evolved Greninja was suddenly covered in a veil of water. It wasn't an attack, and it wasn't a defensive move, either. Ninjark moved swiftly, dashing into whatever villain he could find and knocking them down. Finally, the water veil lifted from around Ninjark, moving around his body to his back, where it formed a giant shuriken made of water. His appearance had changed. His shoulders and the bottom half of his torso were colored silver, the back and sides of his head were black, and the blue parts of his body were a bit of a lighter shade than before.

Drageist smiled at Ninjark's new form, quietly uttering the name of the transformation to himself.

"Bond Phenomenon."

The time for explaining the effects of the transformation would come later, though, as they had a major fight to win.

Ninjark reached behind him and grabbed the shuriken on his back and threw it at Manstre. Everyone witnessing it knew the move was Water Shuriken, but they'd never seen or even heard of the shuriken of water being as big and powerful as Ninjark's was while he was in his new form.

Manstre looked down at Ninjark before effortlessly swatting him aside. Heather cried out in pain as though she was the one who had been hit.

Team Go-Getters and the Monster Riders weren't the only heroes who were having trouble fighting villains. Malefor had easily knocked aside a purple dragon that had been bursting with overconfidence and a good dose of cockiness. Cynder ran to his side, calling his name in concern.

"Spyro!"

The purple dragon Skylander rose to his feet, realization in his eyes. "There's too many of them!"

He was right. Even with every hero giving it their all, there were too many villains who were fighting back with just as much, if not more, ferocity. A group of Chitauri had pinned down a pair of ladybug and black cat-themed superheroes. Swift the Nargacuga had been trying her luck with the Doom Raiders before she was nearly stepped on by Manstre.

Arachne cleverly ducked for cover behind a building, with Ratha and Rathi joining her. Even the brave and tough little Rathian knew she couldn't hold her own in this fight. Drageist flew over to check on the trio of youngsters to make sure they were okay. The Altered Forme Giratina just barely heard the ten-year-old girl mutter, "We need more."

Drageist looked down at her. "What?"

"Power," Arachne finished. "We need more power."

The Giratina looked out onto the battlefield, realizing what he had to do. He looked back a Arachne. "Go find the other Monster Riders."

The girl nodded, running back out from her hiding place, with Ratha and Rathi following close behind.

Drageist summoned a portal and flew through it. He found Fjord conversing with Chronos, Apeiron, Opinor and Veritos. "I need you all to help me open a portal to Dimension G-14!"

The Kyurem looked up at his friend. "Are you sure?" There was disbelief in his voice.

"It may be our only chance," Drageist said in response.

Fjord hesitated before nodding in agreement.

* * *

Snivels didn't have time to be tired as he and Toothless ran up the stairs of the Megalo Tower while Adhesive flew ahead of them. Their friend was in danger, and the villain behind the plot was at the top of the tower.

Still, Snivels thought it wouldn't hurt to pass the time by asking a few questions.

"You know, I can't help but wonder how you manage to fly. I mean, dragons and birds have wings, Koffing and Weezing are filled with gas, Magnemite and Tynamo use electromagnetic waves, but what about you? What's your story?"

Adhesive turned around so he was still flying forward, but facing backwards at Snivels. "Honestly, I don't know. I've always just considered it as being a part of my anatomy."

The next thing the Poipole knew, Snivels and Toothless had stopped climbing the stairs. They just stood on one of the platforms that served as a sort of rest stop for anyone who got too tired. Adhesive was confused, but his unasked question was answered when his large head bumped into something behind him. Freezing momentarily, he turned around to see a group of white-armor clad henchmen carrying futuristic blaster guns. Adhesive flew back to where Snivels and Toothless had froze as the Stormtroopers eyed them through their helmets.

Adhesive dove into the saddlebag hanging off of Toothless's saddle, muttering, "I got this," under his breath as he searched the bag's contents. He pulled out a blanket and draped it over himself, facing the Stormtroopers with an enigmatic expression. "We're not the creatures you're looking for," the Poipole stated in a slow, calm voice as he made a sort of waving motion with his small, digitless hand.

The Stormtroopers just stood there for a moment before raising their blasters to shoot. Adhesive immediately dropped the act he had been trying to play, his eyes widening in fear.

"Worth a shot."

No sooner after the Ultra Guardian in training had whimpered out that phrase, the trio of friends ducked away as the space-traveling henchmen attempted to shoot them. But anyone who knew Stormtroopers were aware that they were very poor at hitting their targets. And in this particular case, 'anyone' meant Adhesive.

"What was that?" Snivels asked as the Poipole threw off the blanket he had been wearing as a makeshift cloak.

Adhesive shook his head. "Just something I was stupid enough to think would actually work." He snuck a quick look around the corner to see that the Stormtroopers were still attempting to shoot at them. "Any ideas, Snivster?"

Before the Servine in question could answer, there was a loud noise from above them. Sounds of grunting, groaning, and bodies falling limp to the floor. Toothless padded out first, his ears raised curiously at what he saw. Snivels and Adhesive followed cautiously, prepared for the worst.

It turned out to be a blonde-haired superheroine dressed in red, black and yellow dragonesque attire, all thanks to the Dragon Miraculous she was wearing around her neck.

Snivels recognized her instantly. "Astrid?"

The Dragon Miraculous Holder nodded in confirmation. "Call me Dragoness." One of the fallen Stormtroopers groaned, so she hit him in the head with the blunt end of her sword, and he went silent.

"I was expecting you to be the candidate for the Dragon Miraculous," Adhesive said. "But seeing you wearing it in person is another story."

Miraculous Astrid, or Dragoness, descended the stairs so she was on the same level as the trio. She looked down at Snivels as she pulled out a small box she had been holding. "Your friend Drageist informed me of what happened to Draco. He gave me his Dragon Miraculous to wear in the fight, but I grabbed this just in case." She held the box out to Snivels. "This is the Snake Miraculous, which gives you the power of Second Chance. You will use it for the greater good. When the job is done, you must return the Miraculous to me. Can I trust you?"

Snivels nodded without hesitation. "Definitely." He reached out and took the box, opening it carefully. A small ball of light seemed to pop right out of the box and circled him a few times.

"What is that?"

The Servine's question was answered when the light faded, revealing a tiny, sea green snake creature hovering in the air in a meditation pose. The creature opened its eyes, revealing a striking yellow with narrow black pupils.

"Well, you're an interesting sight," the snake creature spoke with a distinctive hiss. "I suppose you're the one who will be wielding my Miraculous. My name is Sass, and I will be your kwami."

"Kwami," Snivels repeated with interest. "So, you're what gives these superheroes their superpowers?"

Sass turned to Dragoness, a small smile on his face. "Smart fellow."

Adhesive could barley contain himself. "No way. A real, live Miraculous bestowing, and I get to watch?!"

Toothless gave the Poipole a look that said, "Really?"

Snivels reached into the box and pulled out a sea green, band-like piece of jewelry he realized was supposed to be a bangle. Since he didn't have proper wrists, the Servine instead fit the Snake Miraculous around his tail, with some difficulty due to his leaves.

"Ready to become a superhero?" Dragoness asked with a smile.

Snivels nodded. "Ready as I'll ever be."

"Then there's just on thing you need to say," the snake kwami stated. "Sass, Scales Slither!"

Snivels turned to give Toothless a confident smile to reassure his dragon friend before repeating the phrase.

"Sass, Scales Slither!"

The transformation instantly took effect. Sass was sucked into the Snake Miraculous on Snivels's tail, the magic jewel glowing and changing from a simple silver band to a sea green bangle with a snake's head. A cyan, snakeskin-styled mask materialized around Snivels's eyes, and soon after a skin-tight black cyan bodysuit with the same design appeared upon the Servine's body, fitting his structure like a glove. Finally, a small, mint green harp with a light green diamond pattern materialized in Snivels's hand as the transformation finished, revealing the new superhero.

Snivels looked over his outfit in amazement. "I'll admit, this is pretty awesome!" He then noticed the tool he was holding and looked at it in confusion. "But, what am I supposed to do with this thing?"

Dragoness barely managed to reply, "You'll figure it out as you go," before an impatient Toothless barreled past them, bounding up the stairs. The Night Fury's eyes were filled with anger at the young villain waiting on the roof who had dared to plot to hurt his rider.

"Follow the dragon," Snivels muttered as he ran up the stairs after Toothless. Dragoness and Adhesive soon followed.

"So, what's your superhero name gonna be?" Adhesive asked as they scaled the stairs.

Snivels looked thoughtful. Even though it would be easy for Hroar and Hawk Moth to figure out his true identity, he needed a name that was fitting for a holder of the Snake Miraculous. "How about...Serpent?"

Adhesive gave his friend an impressed smile. "Nice choice."

The three heroes kept on heading up the stairwell until they nearly bumped into Toothless, who was standing at a locked door. They had reached the very top, and the door was the exit to the roof. Serpent noticed scorch marks on the wall that indicated Toothless had tried to blast the door open with his fire, which didn't seem to work.

"Those villains must have activated the security system after we got out of the elevator," Adhesive realized. "The doors are locked and reinforced to trap intruders inside. Almost nothing can destroy them."

"Can it be opened from the outside?" asked Dragoness.

Adhesive hesitated. "I...think so?"

Dragoness sucked in a breath. "Only one way to find out," she said. Eyeing the door with her dragon eyes, she called out in a loud and firm voice, "Wind Dragon!"

A second later, the Dragon Miraculous Holder was changed into a cloud of gas, not unlike a gust of wind. The cloud swiftly breezed its way underneath the locked door, much to the amazement of Serpent and Adhesive. A minute later, the door swung open to reveal Dragoness in solid, human form again, a triumphant and relieved smile on her face.

"I should have gotten that on video," Adhesive murmured to himself.

There was still another set of stairs that led to the part of the roof where Hroar was overseeing the battle, but it wasn't anywhere near as long as the set they had just scaled. Once again, Toothless bounded past them and ascended the stairs in leaps and bounds. The Night Fury stopped at the sight of the young villain that was responsible for the entire mess. Hroar chuckled, twirling the Griseous Orb he was holding in his hands as Toothless crouched down and growled at him.

"No surprise to see you here, dragon."

Serpent was the next to arrive. "And he's not alone."

Dragoness and Adhesive joined them soon after.

The young villain frowned at the sight of them. It didn't take a genius to figure out who Serpent and Dragoness really were. "How many times do I have to try to get rid of you, snake?"

"Enough to last a while, I can tell you that," Serpent replied. "We're not afraid to fight you, you know."

Hroar kept his villainous scowl at the now-superpowered Servine. "Even with every hero in the Multiverse fighting together, you'll never defeat my Red Fatalis."

"Oh yeah?" Adhesive asked, tauntingly. "And what makes you so sure of that?"

Hroar lifted a hand to his mouth and whistled. The whole tower lit up as the Red Fatalis fired a blast of Red Death and Fatalis fire into the air. After a minute, the Red Fatalis stopped, and the flames dispersed.

Dragoness gave the Poipole an annoyed glare. "You just had to ask, didn't you?"

Toothless couldn't wait any longer. He pounced, but Hroar sidestepped out of the way, leaving the Night Fury to hang precariously on the edge of the roof by his claws. One of the Red Fatalis's eight eyes caught sight of the dangling dragon and the hybrid turned her jaws towards him.

"It's me or the Night Fury," Hroar said nefariously. "Take your pick."

Serpent didn't have time to think, he had to act. He darted forward, stopping at the edge of the building and hanging his tail over it within Toothless's reach. Toothless bit down hard on his friend's tail, causing Serpent to cry out in pain, but he ignored it and started pulling as hard as he could. Dragoness joined in, and together the two Miraculous Holders pulled Toothless back up onto the roof, away from the jaws of the Red Fatalis.

Hroar shook his head, chuckling. "You heroes are always putting the needs of others before your own," he said. "That's what makes you weak."

"You're wrong, Hroar," Serpent said confidently. "What you villains see as weakness gives us strength. And now it's time for you witness it, firsthand!"

As if on cue, the largest portal anyone had seen appeared in the middle of the battlefield. Drageist, Chronos and Apeiron stretched the portal further, allowing the creature waiting on the other side to squeeze through.

It was gigantic, standing somewhere around 390 feet tall, and resembled some sort of bipedal dinosaur. The most noticeable thing, besides its size, were the large, pointed spikes that trailed down its back from up near its head to the tip of its tail. The creature turned its head to look around, giving everyone a good view of the gills on its neck. Then the creature lifted its head into the sky and roared.

SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEOOOONK!

Adhesive laughed happily at the sight of the kaiju. "You guys are so screwed now!" he shouted at all the villains.

Godzilla took just one step, and all the villains on the battlefield started running away in fear.

Except for one.

The Red Fatalis stood her ground and roared at Godzilla, despite the drastic size difference leaving her, as the smaller monster, at a disadvantage.

"You'll still have to do better than that," Hroar said. "If you want to defeat all of us."

Serpent glared at the villain. "You mean you. Every other villain out here is just one of your pawns, right?"

Hroar chuckled. "True. But either way, I'm not letting some second-rate Pocket Monster stand in my way after all the work I put into this scheme!" He reached into a sheath that was strapped at his waist and pulled out a sword. He lunged, but then drew back to avoid being hit by Serpent's harp, which he had thrown like it was a frisbee.

"If anyone has any great ideas, I'm open to them," Serpent said as he caught his harp after it came spinning back like a boomerang.

Adhesive suddenly perked up, signaling that he had gotten an idea. "You guys keep him distracted, I'll see if I can get to the control room." He turned to Serpent. "You can use your power in case something doesn't go right."

Serpent suddenly looked unsure of himself. "How do I do that?"

"Just mark your position on the Miraculous," Adhesive said, pointing to the bangle for emphasis. "All you have to do to head back to the moment you marked before is mark it a second time." Then he flew off, heading back down the way they came, to find the control room to the Megalo Tower.

Serpent watched until Adhesive was out of sight. Then he turned to Toothless. "Give us some cover."

The Night Fury nodded before firing a plasma blast at Hroar. The young villain rolled out of the way, but Toothless kept shooting. Again and again, Hroar avoided the blasts, albeit barely.

The Snake Miraculous-wielding Servine, meanwhile, turned to look at his tail, the Snake Miraculous still hanging securely on it. Moving quickly, he swiped a leafy finger on the bangle, and the snake head slid back to reveal a bright mark that looked a lot like a forked tongue. Almost on instinct, Serpent uttered, "Second Chance."

At that very moment, Toothless just so happened to run out of plasma blasts.

Hroar stood up and gripped his sword firmly. "You're nothing without your rider, dragon. You can't fly, and you have no shots left. You should have quit while you were still ahead."

The agitated Night Fury lunged at the young villain with claws outstretched and teeth bared. He had forgotten that Hroar was still holding the sword until the tip was inches away from where his heart was.

Knowing full well what was about to happen, a reasonably horrified and desperate Serpent marked the Snake Miraculous a second time with lightning-fast speed. "Second Chance!"

In a flash, he was back in the moment where Toothless's plasma blasts had run out.

Just like before, Hroar stood up and gripped his sword firmly. "You're nothing without your rider, dragon. You can't fly, and you have no shots left. You should have quit while you were still ahead."

Serpent quickly jumped in front of Toothless, blocking his path so he wouldn't pounce onto the sword that had almost taken his life just seconds before (or was it later? Time travel is so confusing!). Sighing in relief, the Snake Miraculous-wielding Servine glanced at the bangle on his tail with a smile. "I can think of quite a few moments where this would have come in handy," he said, mostly to himself.

"Admit it," Hroar taunted, "You've been following that little toothpick since day one. All because he's so kind and so smart and so...blech! Guess what? I'm ten, no, a thousand times better than that weaselly little runt! And I would have been able to prove it if he hadn't gone and made me fall off that Typhoomerang's back!"

Serpent let out an amused chuckle. "If you look back at it now, you might realize you had it coming to you."

"Perhaps," said Hroar, "But it's different this time. I have the Red Fatalis, the strongest and most indestructible creature ever! There's no one who can stop me!"

Dragoness stepped forward so she was standing beside Toothless. "I'm here, aren't I?"

"And I don't need a piece of magic jewelry to defeat you," declared Serpent. He looked at Dragoness, who nodded in understanding and approval. He looked back at his tail, his eyes landing on the Snake Miraculous.

"Scales Rest."

In a flash of green light, Serpent's superhero outfit dematerialized, leaving Snivels with the bangle still on his tail. Sass groaned in exhaustion as he exited the Snake Miraculous. A kwami had to recharge by eating food after their wielder used their special power.

The Servine prince cradled the tired Sass in his leaf hands. "It was nice meeting you, Sass," he said. "I'm sorry we didn't get to work together for too long, but this is something I need to do as myself."

The snake kwami gave Snivels a weak smile. "The pleasure was all mine, good friend. I'll be lucky if the next hero who wields me is as honest and trustworthy as you are."

Smiling, Snivels reached behind him and took the Snake Miraculous off of his tail. In a flash of light, Sass disappeared back into the bangle to wait for the next worthy hero he'd be bestowed upon. Snivels handed the Snake Miraculous to Dragoness, who put it back in the box it came in, which she then tucked into her pocket for safekeeping.

"Touching," Hroar said in a mocking tone as he held up the Griseous Orb he was holding. "But you forget, I still have this Orb. I can send you all away without so much as a second thought!"

"Then we'll keep coming back," Snivels said bravely. "We won't stop trying to defeat you!"

The young villain raised his sword.

"So be it."

* * *

Inside the tower, Adhesive was flying down the stairs and through the halls faster than any Poipole probably ever had before. He knew that he had a tool that would help his friends turn the battle in their favor, and he knew where to find it.

He stopped when he noticed a figure blocking his path.

It was Hawk Moth, but he didn't notice Adhesive at first because he was facing the other way.

"Strike them, Manstre! Pin those two down and bring me their Miraculous!"

Adhesive shouted to the supervillain, "You're not getting any Miraculous today, _Gabriel_!"

Hawk Moth turned to the sound of the Poipole's shout, his eyes flashing in anger and surprise. "How did you know...AGH!"

He was cut off when Adhesive sprayed a non-toxic fluid into the villain's eyes, momentarily blinding him. As Hawk Moth wiped the goop off his eyes, the Poipole flew past him and down the hall.

"You guys really need to try YouTube!"

He kept flying ahead until he found the room he was looking for. He darted in, closing and locking the door behind him.

The security room.

Adhesive quickly found the equipment he was looking for. He switched on the security cameras, cycling through the footage until he found the one that displayed what was happening on the roof. Using what he knew about the technology of Ultra Megalopolis, Adhesive plugged the security camera audio into the intercom. There was a loud feedback sound as the intercom powered up throughout Ultra Megalopolis. Some of the heroes and villains actually covered their ears to block out the high-pitched noise. Adhesive chuckled to himself as he watched what was happening on the security camera's footage.

"You're nothing but a liar, Hroar," Snivels said as he avoided a swing from the villain's sword. "Everything you've ever said was to try and trick people into doing what you wanted them to do!"

If Hroar was a dragon, smoke would have been coming out of his ears and mouth. "You may be truthful, snake, but none of those other evildoers will bother to listen to you! No one knows about my plan, and no one ever will! So long as I have the Red Fatalis, no hero or villain in the entire Multiverse will be able to stop me!" He was too angry to realize that everything he was saying was being broadcasted across the city over the intercom.

All of the villains on the battlefield that had become of Ultra Megalopolis stopped at the sound of what was being said. The more they listened, the more their anger grew. Hroar had been planning to betray them all along.

"He lied to us!" Malefor half-snarled, half-shouted in anger.

The other villains soon joined in.

"It was all a trick!"

"Let's get him!"

Soon enough, all of the villains were charging towards Megalo Tower, determined to teach Hroar a lesson about tricking them. The Red Fatalis didn't join them, for she displayed full loyalty to her master. Plus, she was more interested in battling the King of the Kaiju.

Adhesive noticed the mob of angry villains approaching thanks to the cameras. He quickly flew out of the room and back up in the direction of the roof.

Manstre was about to crush Astrid and the still-Mega Evolved Blaze under his foot when Hawk Moth called out to him. "The Mastermind tricked us! Come to the tower, but first, grab those Miraculous!"

Following his master's command, Manstre started to turn towards Megalo Tower. But a creature that looked like a combination of three different Pokémon - Kyurem, Zekrom and Reshiram - noticed him. Fjord quickly charged up and fired ball of aura that pulsated with ice, fire and electricity straight at the akumatized villain. The aura enveloped Manstre, and in seconds he was frozen in solid ice that crackled with sparks and flickered with flames.

"We've actually missed using these Freeze Shock-Ice Burn powers," Fjord muttered to himself.

Back at the tower, Toothless had Hroar pinned to the floor of the roof, the latter's sword pushed far beyond reach. The young villain was about to use the Griseous Orb when Snivels ran over, grabbed the orb, and back to the other side of the roof with accelerated speed.

"Sorry, Mastermind," the Servine said. "But last I checked, this doesn't belong to you."

Dragoness gave him a look of annoyance. "You couldn't have done that earlier?"

It was at that moment Adhesive arrived. "Guys, we gotta go, like, right now!"

As if on cue, the tower shook as many of the more powerful villains began scaling the walls from outside. Snivels took this as a sign to mount Toothless, operate the tailfin, and get the heck out of there. Dragoness had no experience with real dragons, but she knew riding the Night Fury was the fastest way off the tower. So, she mounted him along with Snivels. Toothless and Adhesive had just flown off when Malefor appeared, having been one of the villains who was climbing the walls of the tower.

"You lied to us!"

Hroar picked himself up off the floor of the roof and found himself facing the Undead Dragon King.

"Now, let's not be too hasty, Malefor. We both know how temperamental you can be..."

He ended up backing into an equally infuriated Hawk Moth. "How dare you use us as pawns!"

"That's kind of ironic," Hroar said, somewhat nervously. "Since you tend to do that, I don't know, all the time!"

The Chitauri came next, shrieking in hostility. Then the Doom Raiders, some Stormtroopers, and any other kind of villain you can imagine. The Red Fatalis noticed the situation her master was in, and went to aid him, swiping and snapping at whatever villain was in range. The Megalo Tower creaked and groaned under the combined weight of so many different creatures.

Drageist noticed this and conjured a portal, from which a Mewtwo emerged. "Time to go to work, Splice."

Meanwhile, Snivels noticed the time-frozen Manstre from their point high above the city. He directed Toothless into a dive, at the same time looking over his shoulder at the Dragon Miraculous Holder that was riding with him.

"Go, Dragoness!"

The superheroine took this as her cue to leap off the Night Fury's back, falling freely through the air down to where Manstre was frozen. She landed neatly on the huge block of ice, the embers and sparks not fazing her in the slightest. In the seconds that followed, Dragoness swung her sword near Manstre's head, the blade slicing clean through the ice and the helmet that was sitting on top of his head. The superheroine then tucked and rolled down Manstre's frozen back, catching the icy helmet and pulled on the horns with all her might. On good tug did the trick. The helmet, weakened by the cold, snapped right in half, the akuma exiting through one of the horns.

Snivels quickly noticed the dark-powered butterfly. "Toothless, Adhesive, now!"

The Night Fury and Poipole simultaneously fired and plasma blast and glob of poison, respectively, at the akuma. Within seconds, the akuma was nothing but ashes. Not long after, Manstre was covered in a black mist as he transformed back into Stoick, but still remained frozen in the crackling and fiery ice.

The small group of friends turned toward the tower when they heard it creaking and groaning. It didn't take a genius to realize its was going to collapse.

Drageist, Chronos and Apeiron quickly went to work, utilizing their powers to summon an enormous portal that encircled the bottom of the Megalo Tower. Seeing the portal the Giratina, Dialga and Palkia had summoned, Splice raised a hand to where the swirling doorway to other worlds was positioned. Almost instantly, the center of the portal glowed with a bright white light. The four Legendary Pokémon looked at each other and nodded before they both started to slowly raise their eyes to look up at the top of the tower. In synch with their movements, the portal also started traveling up, sucking up any villainous creatures that were unlucky enough to touch it. The Red Fatalis had been lucky enough to spread her wings and fly away from the tower when she saw the portal, leaving her out of range. Hroar noticed this and, after a brief moment of hesitation, launched himself off the roof of the tower, landing safely on top of his loyal creation's back. Then the hybrid flew up high, far beyond the reach of the portal.

Malefor was the last of the villains to pass through the portal. The Undead Dragon King let out a dismayed and frightened, "No!" before he was completely consumed by the portal. Then the doorway vanished, leaving the tower still standing.

Snivels landed Toothless near where the rest of Team Go-Getters was watching. "Are they...?" Snivels started to ask. He was interrupted by Fjord finishing his sentence.

"Back in the respective dimensions from which they spawned."

Splice gave them a small smile before adding, "With their memories of the day's events completely erased to ensure the balance of the Multiverse stays intact."

The group finally got a good look at Fjord as he smiled at the Mewtwo. The Kyurem's legs were the same as before, but they were shorter, with a middle toe made of ice, and visibly stronger, as he was able to stand in a more upright position. His tail was an amalgam of Kyurem's, Zekrom's and Reshiram's, and it was glowing with alternating electric blue, fiery orange, and icy white energy. His shoulders were covered in 'squares' of ice with two pins protruding from each which came out and 'plugged into' four holes on his tail. His arms were longer, the right one resembling Zekrom's and the left resembling Reshiram's. The right extension on his back had been replaced by a Zekrom-like wing on the right while the one on the left remained the same. As for his head, the neck was now upright with black skin of the right side and white fur on the left side. And on the back of his head was a black horn on the right side and a white extension on the left side.

Adhesive was in awe at Fjord's awesome new form. "That is the single coolest thing I have ever seen! What do you call this form?"

"Call it?" Fjord repeated. He thought for a moment before admitting, "We don't know. We haven't fused into this form in quite a long time."

Snivels looked over the Kyurem's form a few times before offering a suggestion. "How about...Ultimate Kyurem?"

Fjord gave the Servine a smile in response. "Perfect."

Just then, there was a loud and thunderous crack, and the Megalo Tower started leaning to one side. Adhesive quickly went into a panic. "It's gonna fall!"

Drageist quickly conjured a multitude of portals, each and every one of them leading to the Megalo Tower basement, where the Ultra Guardians and every different version of Hiccup were being held prisoner. Kuro was the first to emerge from the other side of the dimensional doorway, followed by the Ultra Guardians and Canon Hiccup. There were too many counterparts that followed to count, but Snivels recognized HtBaT, MoB, Trainers of Berk, Miraculous, and Windracer. By the time the tower finally fell over, all of the prisoners had been evacuated.

Kuro stared out at what was left of the tower. "Well, we were thinking about remodeling..."

Then the Red Fatalis landed in the ruins of the tower with a loud crash. Hroar stood atop its head. "This isn't over!" The Red Fatalis let out a roar, as if to emphasize her master's point.

"Well, looks like we still have a fight to win," Snivels said.

Canon Hiccup nodded in agreement as he mounted Canon Toothless. "Yep." He look over his shoulder at Team Go-Getters as his counterparts followed his example. "Why don't you guys take a break?" He turned back to face the Red Fatalis. "We'll handle this."

"Oh, this is going to be sweet," said an intrigued and anticipating Amber.

Snivels chuckled in excitement. "Yeah, it is!"

Dragoness then arrived. "Open Sky," she said, and in an instant she reverted back to her normal, modern-day attire. A little red and black dragon creature hovered in front of her. "It was nice working with you," said Miraculous Astrid with a smile.

"The pleasure was all mine, young lady," the dragon kwami said formally, bowing to her.

Miraculous Astrid reached up to her neck and took off the Dragon Miraculous. The dragon kwami disappeared into the magic jewelry as she called out to Miraculous Hiccup. "Hey, Draco!"

Said counterpart turned to look at her.

"You're gonna need this."

She tossed the choker to Miraculous Hiccup, who caught it and hung it around his neck. He nodded to Miraculous Astrid in thanks as the dragon kwami reappeared in a flash of red light.

"It's so good to see you again, master," the kwami said in relief.

Miraculous Hiccup shook his head, smiling. "I thought I told you not to call me that. It sounds too formal." He then patted the dragon kwami's head gently. "I missed you, Longg."

The dragon kwami, Longg, gave his wielder a knowing smile. "It seems we have work to do," he said. "Just say the magic words, and I'll do the rest."

Miraculous Hiccup didn't need to be told twice.

"Longg, Bring the Storm!"

Within seconds, Miraculous Hiccup was once again in his Draco attire. He gripped his sword tightly in preparation for the fight that was soon to follow. The other counterparts were also standing at the ready. A large wolf-like dragon wearing a moonstone around its neck let out a howl, wisps of the Gore Magala virus emanated from Sightless's mouth, the many different versions of Toothless all growled, and Windracer's wings were ignited with fire.

Seeing that their time to fight was over, the Mega-Evolved Blaze and Battle-Bonded Ninjark changed back into a normal Blaziken and Greninja, respectively. Adhesive flew off and returned almost instantly with a bucket of popcorn to snack on as he watched the fight. He offered some to HtBaT Astrid, but she shook her head in polite refusal.

The Red Fatalis made the first move. She swung her tail at the large group of counterparts. The ones on the backs of dragons, or were able to fly themselves, easily avoided it. Others weren't so lucky, and ended up getting swung into some of the buildings. An Ice Beam from Frostless froze one of the Red Fatalis's eyes shut, but she easily broke the ice off by simply opening her eyelid. Several plasma blasts from the Night Furies didn't even make her flinch, but a few of them came close to hitting Hroar, so he had to slide off down the Red Fatalis's back and tail, landing in the wreckage of the Megalo Tower.

The Red Fatalis suddenly spotted Sightless flying towards her, and recoiled.

Snivels was probably watching the battle with the most intensity. He was trying to find a weakness in the Red Fatalis. "There has to be some way to stop her!" He had noticed the dragon-monster hybrid recoil at the sight of the Gore Magala and turned to Adhesive. "Any idea what sort of weaknesses she has?"

"I'm not sure," Adhesive said as he threw the half-empty bucket of popcorn aside. He pulled out a futuristic scanning device that resembled the tools used for scanning items in a store. He pointed it at the Red Fatalis, scanning it like a barcode. The device beeped, displaying a set of medical stats applying to the hybrid. Adhesive's eyes widened. "The creature's white blood cell count is off the charts!"

None of Team Go-Getters or the Monster Riders knew what he meant by that. "Translation, please?" Blaze requested.

"It means the Red Fatalis's immune system is in overdrive," Adhesive explained. "The Red Death and Fatalis cells are seeing each other as foreign bodies, so they're combating each other and leaving the door wide open for viruses and bacterial infections!"

"The Red Fatalis is vulnerable to disease," Snivels realized. "That's its weakness!"

Arachne pushed herself past the older Monster Riders. "And it explains why Sightless's virus blast worked on the Red Fatalis earlier, right?"

Snivels nodded. "Yes, but we need something more powerful than just one virus blast if we're going to beat this thing!"

Batwings looked thoughtful. Mocktalk noticed. "Batwings have idea?" the Qurupeco asked.

The Siren nodded in acknowledgement. "I recall a legend of a Gore Magala that covered itself in its own virus blast, using it to defeat a much larger and more powerful opponent, but I can't remember what species it was."

"Doesn't matter," Snivels said, shaking his head. "This could be what we need to finally end the fight!" He turned so he was fully facing the Siren. "Batwings, can you fly up there and inform Hiccup and Sightless about what you just told us?"

The Siren gave him a toothy grin. "Do Rathians come in pink?"

Snivels looked confused.

Batwings dropped his grin. "That was a yes." With that, he spread his wings and took off.

The always-eager Ratha also spread his wings and started to fly, but Snivels stopped him by grabbing onto his tail. "Not you, you're staying here."

The Red Fatalis noticed the Siren and snapped at him. She missed. In response, Batwings started singing the Siren's signature song, used to put anyone who hears it to sleep. The Red Fatalis's eyes drooped a little, but she stayed wide awake. But all Batwings needed to do was keep her distracted long enough for him to talk to Hiccup about the hybrid's weakness. The distraction came in the form of a virus blast from Sightless, which collided with the Red Fatalis's right wing. The hybrid shrieked in pain as the virus turned her wing an unhealthy black. That gave Batwings the opening he was looking for. He flew over to meet MoB Hiccup.

"The Red Fatalis is weak to Sightless's virus!"

Immediately, MoB Hiccup's brain went to work creating a viable plan. He called out for all of the other counterparts to hear, "Distract that thing, we'll handle the rest!"

The Red Fatalis kept taking hits, some of which hit its infected wing, causing further pain. Windracer ended up slicing the damaged wing cleanly off with his own wings, which were still ignited with fire.

Adhesive cheered, "Yeah! Now that's racing the wind!"

Snivels smiled up at the Poipole. "Nice!" He held his hand up for a high-five.

Adhesive gladly obliged. "Wordplay."

One of the counterparts steered Toothless down to where Team Go-Getters was. The Night Fury landed in front of Snivels. A quick sniff told the Servine that this counterpart was HtBaT Hiccup, so he mounted Toothless behind his trainer before the three of them took off into the fight.

"You have no idea how much I missed you guys," HtBaT Hiccup muttered under his breath.

Sightless, meanwhile, had flown high up above the fight, with MoB Hiccup doing his best to operate the splint that helped the Gore Magala fly. The teenager's Monstie was feeling something deep within his gut, like a powerful instinct. Without warning, he started diving down to where the Red Fatalis was.

MoB Hiccup cried out in shock, "Sightless, what are you doing?!"

The Gore Magala ignored his rider's cries, his heat-detecting vision focusing on the figure of the Red Fatalis below. He summoned enough of his virus around to turn himself into a meteor, the flames crackling behind him purplish-black while the center was a blazing white. It was this comet of burning light and suffocating virus that struck the Red Fatalis head on, since she was unable to dodge or fly away with one wing missing.

The results were instantaneous.

Starting from her head, the Red Fatalis's scales were all turning the color of unhealthy black. Whatever Sightless had done, it was working, and it was working fast. The hybrid clawed at her own scales, as if she were trying to scrape the color off. She tried to breathe fire to burn the virus, but her flames wouldn't work. The virus had already done too much damage to her body.

And it wasn't stopping.

Soon, all of the Red Fatalis was completely black, her scales crumbling like stones, her eyes watering, her teeth rotting away to nothing, her one remaining wing withering like a weed in the middle of a desert. She could only manage to roar one last time before she exploded.

There was no fire in this explosion, only bits and pieces of the freaky hybrid falling in all directions.

All of the different versions of Hiccup (and Batwings) landed near the large group of heroes that had been watching the fight, each of them covered in Arceus knows what. Snivels quickly dismounted Toothless and started wiping off the gunk that had covered him when the hybrid blew up. "Okay, that was disturbing."

Sightless landed in the middle of the mess, looking quite proud of himself.

"Can't argue with results," Adhesive muttered. "I can't think of anything else that could have defeated that thing."

Blaze gave him a friendly smile. "I can." She listed off a few names. "Darkstalker, King Ghidorah, Stoick when he's angry...which is always."

Adhesive quickly recognized that as his answer to her earlier question about what was more dangerous than the Red Fatalis.

Arachne was buzzing with excitement. "That was the most awesome move I have ever seen! And an awesome move like that needs and awesome name! Like..." She stopped to think, but nothing good came to mind.

Snivels finished ridding himself of Red Fatalis goop before offering the perfect name.

"Perilous Plague!"

Sightless crooned to show that he liked the sound of it.

Suddenly, Ratha came barreling out of nowhere and leapt into Snivels's arms. The Servine laughed as the baby Rathalos licked his face over and over.

They didn't get a lot of time to celebrate their victory, however, as Hroar burst out from the rubble of the Megalo Tower. His eyes bloodshot with rage, he drew his sword and charged at the first hero he saw, which happened to be Snivels.

The Servine saw Hroar charging at him, and he became frozen with fear. The last time he had seen someone so angry and vengeful was when Stoick disowned Hiccup and left for the dragon's nest.

Of the many heroes that tried to save the life of their friend, only Ratha moved fast enough. The baby Rathalos courageously threw himself in front of Snivels, so Hroar's sword ended up striking him instead.

Snivels didn't see exactly where the sword sliced Ratha, but he heard the poor baby cry out in pain before he tumbled to the ground in a heap.

He looked dead.

Before Hroar had another chance to try and kill Snivels, he was suddenly hoisted up by a certain Gore Magala that was snarling at him. He glared back at the eyeless monster before turning to Hiccup (he wasn't sure which one, but at that point, it didn't matter). "I won't let you defeat me again!"

Hiccup shook his head. "It wasn't just me this time, Hroar." He glanced at all the other heroes that had fought that day, his eyes briefly locking with Astrid's. He looked back at the young villain before finishing his statement.

"It was all of us."

Sightless roared in Hroar's face before the young villain was thrown to the side by the Gore Magala. He tumbled over himself a few times before coming to a stop in the shadow of one of the side buildings.

Perhaps it was on purpose, or just pure luck, but Godzilla chose that exact moment to turn and head back towards the portal from which he came, the tip of his tail bumping the building that was towering over Hroar. The support beams cracked and creaked at the force of what was a light tap from the King of the Kaiju, and the structure began to lean over to one side.

Hroar heard the crumbling and looked up to find the building falling down toward him. He had landed on his stomach, so he hastily picked himself off the ground and ran. But he wasn't fast enough. The building fell onto him with a loud crash, and the Dragon Enrager was no more.

The fight was over.

The heroes had won.

But Snivels wasn't paying attention to what had happened. His focus was on Ratha. He was kneeling beside the young Rathalos, looking for any signs that his friend was still alive.

Ratha stirred, and then slowly stood up, his back to Snivels. The Servine noticed that Ratha was looking around rather oddly, turning his head further and further to the left. Snivels's unasked question was answered when the left side of Ratha's face was revealed to him.

Ratha's left eye was gone.

In its place was a long, vertical scar.

The baby Rathalos cried out, unable to see where Snivels was. The Servine gently took Ratha's face in his hands and turned it so he could see him with his one good eye. The baby cooed at the sight of the Grass Snake Pokémon.

" _Papa?_ "

Snivels teared up when he heard that. "Ratha..." He threw his arms around the Rathalos's neck and hugged him close. "It's okay. I'm here."

A small roar signaled Rathi's approach. The baby Rathian sniffed Ratha's injury, cooing softly. Then she licked the scar with her tongue, hoping that it would help Ratha feel better. Normally for monsters and dragons, licking another was almost equal to a kiss, but in this case it was more resemblant to a mother tending to her baby's injury.

Rathi's gesture did the trick. Ratha seemed to cheer up almost instantly. Pulling out of Snivels's grasp, he lowered himself into a submissive pose, revealing that he wanted to play.

This time, Rathi mirrored him.

Snivels watched as the two young monsters started their familiar game of chase. "You know, maybe we could learn something from those two." He turned to give MoB Hiccup and Astrid a smug grin. The couple immediately became nervous when they realized what he was implying, turning away from each other and stuttering, unable to form proper words.

Meanwhile, Fjord had found the still-frozen Stoick, along with his broken helmet. With one good blow, he cracked the ice that encased the chief, who ended up falling face-first onto the ground thanks to the position he had been in. He got up and looked around. "Where am I? What's going on?" No sooner had he asked, a Pheromosa pinned his arms behind his back. A Buzzwole also started to approach when the Ultimate Kyurem held out his Zekrom arm to stop him.

"Let him go," Fjord told the Ultra Guardians. "If we imprison him now, it'll throw off his dimension's timestream. Besides, with all he's been through today, he's been punished enough...for now."

Stoick said nothing, he only glared.

The Pheromosa looked up at her partner. "You figure he's the last one?"

"Don't know," Buzzwole responded. He turned to the large group of heroes and called out, "Hey! Anyone else out there a villain? Show of hands!" He raised his own hand as an example.

No one followed.

"Yeah, I think we got them all."

In a flash of light, the Ultimate Kyurem split back into three separate Pokémon. Chronos, Apeiron, Opinor and Veritos quickly took their leave, but not before the Dialga used his time powers to revert Stoick's helmet back to its non-broken state. Drageist picked up the chief's helmet and practically slammed it down on its owner's head.

Snivels approached Drageist and handed him the Griseous Orb he had retrieved from Hroar. "Can you give this back to Opal?"

The Giratina reached out with one of his appendages and took back the orb. "I know she'll be very happy to get it back."

Adhesive watched as the Ultra Guardians led Stoick away. "So, what happens now?"

"We erase his mind," Splice said. He had appeared behind Adhesive, so the Poipole was quite startled. "We can't risk disrupting the balance of the Multiverse."

Cynder approached the Mewtwo. "We're not going to remember any of this, either, are we?"

Splice shook his head. "You'll think it was all a dream."

"What about us?" Snivels asked with a nervous tone in his voice.

Fjord gently lay one of his ice-covered tendrils on the Servine's shoulder. "There's too much we need Team Go-Getters to remember from all this," he said. "Additionally, alternate timelines aren't affected the same way as the canon timelines. You're safe."

"And the Monster Riders?" Snivels asked, eyeing a nervous-looking Arachne.

Fjord, Drageist and Splice all looked at each other before collectively nodding.

"That is entirely up to them," the Mewtwo stated.

Batwings looked thoughtful. "So, our choice is, either to forget everything that has happened and go on living our lives as normally as possible, or remember today, but with the possibility of never seeing any of Team Go-Getters again."

"You don't have to worry about that," Fjord said, his eyes lighting up as he used his power of foresight to see the future. "The Monster Riders and Team Go-Getters will meet each other again. When, I can't say for sure."

The Monster Riders still had a choice to make. If what Fjord said was true, that they'd be seeing Team Go-Getters again sometime in the future, did they really need to have their memories erased? Snotlout very much wanted to forget all that had happened to him that day, but others such as Arachne wanted to retain their memories of the day's events.

What would they choose?

* * *

 **Me: I know the quality isn't that great, but let me tell you, writing a final battle chapter from scratch is a heck of a lot easier said than done.**

 **Snivels: Well, at least there's room for you to improve it later.**

 **Blaze: Leave it to you to find the bright side.**

 **Ninjark: So, what are the Monster Riders gonna do?**

 **Adhesive: I think we're leaving that for the readers to decide.**

 **Me: Reviews are appreciated.**


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12: The World Belongs to You

 **Snivels: Have the readers reached a verdict?**

 **Me: Yes, and it's one that I respect.**

 **Adhesive: That doesn't sound promising...**

* * *

It was a hard choice to make, but the Monster Riders ultimately decided that they would also have their memories erased. Arachne still wasn't sure about it, though, because there were still some things she wanted to remember. But she wasn't going to argue with the older riders.

Every hero that had participated in the battle had gathered in the Distortion World, where it would be easier to carry out the procedure.

"Alright, everyone," Drageist said as he and Splice warmed up their powers. "Tall creatures in the back. We need to be certain that everyone is accounted for."

There was still time for Team Go-Getters and the Monster Riders to say goodbye to each other.

Ratha didn't want to leave Snivels. The Servine was like a parent to the little Rathalos. Sure, Swift the Nargacuga was more like a mother to him, but it was because of Snivels he had made so many friends. He whined as he nuzzled the Servine.

Snivels sighed. "I'm sorry, Ratha, but you can't come with us. You belong in your own world, with the Monster Riders."

Ratha crooned sadly.

"I know," Snivels said. "I'll miss you, too. But I'm sure we'll meet again someday." He looked over his shoulder at Fjord, who nodded in confirmation. Snivels then looked back at Ratha. "Until then, promise me you'll stay strong, okay?"

Ratha nodded as best he could. Then he turned his attention to Rathi, and they both ran to meet Swift, who was standing with all of the other heroes (and a bound and gagged Stoick) who were waiting to have their memories wiped.

"They will still retain some memories of the experience," Fjord said to Snivels. "They'll just think it was a dream."

Snivels turned to face the Kyurem. "And we'll see them again someday." He walked over to where Stoick was sitting. "I'll admit I shouldn't have talked to you like that, but next time I hope you try not to cover up the truth."

The bound and gagged chief yelled through the rag that was tied around his mouth. The noise was muffled, but Snivels did recognize a few obscenities. "Do I wish I didn't understand that," he muttered, visibly disturbed by Stoick's bad language. He quickly turned and walked the other way, but stopped when he saw Sightless standing before him. The Gore Magala was giving him an eyeless glare, only for his expression to soften before he gave Snivels a friendly lick. Snivels laughed as he wiped his face clean. "Yeah, I'll miss you, too, Sightless."

Satisfied, Sightless padded past him, his rider waiting amongst the large group of creatures. Batwings and Arachne avoided the Gore Magala as they approached their Servine friend. Snivels smiled at the two. "You know, I was actually looking forward to learning more about Sirens, but if this is what makes you guys happy, then it makes me happy, too!"

Batwings smiled at the Servine. "I'd personally like to thank you for not opposing our decision."

"Well, what kind of friend would I be if I didn't respect the decisions of others?" Snivels asked. "Good luck with whatever you decide to do about the Monster Riders."

The Siren laughed. "I'll do my best..." He paused, then added with friendly affection, "Snivs."

Snivels glanced over at HtBaT Hiccup, realizing where Batwings had gotten the nickname. He smiled as Batwings flapped his wings and flew over to where the Monster Riders were waiting. MoB Heather and Scarath had been brought through a portal so they, too, would have their memories erased.

Arachne approached the Servine. "I'm really glad I met you, Snivels. You were a true friend."

"Same here," Snivels said with a smile. "But, hey, we'll meet up again sometime. I heard Splice is capable of restoring memories he's previously erased."

The young girl gave him a determined smile "I'll still be shipping by that time, I'm sure of it!"

Snivels held out his hand to her. "Team Hiccstrid forever?"

Arachne grabbed his hand and shook it firmly. "Team Hiccstrid forever!" Then she let go and went to join the Monster Riders, calling out to Splice, "Okay, we're ready."

Still smiling, Snivels quickly ran over to where Team Go-Getters was waiting. The whole group was standing behind Splice, Fjord, and Drageist to avoid the effect of the memory wipe. The Servine quickly took his place beside HtBaT Hiccup, along with Toothless.

"Don't worry," Splice said. "This won't hurt a bit. You'll all just feel a quick tingle in your brain." As he spoke, Drageist raised his tendrils at ready.

Before they could begin, however, MoB Hiccup raised his hand to get their attention. "Um, Splice, right?"

Said Mewtwo gave him a questioning look. "What is it?"

MoB Hiccup rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "So, none of us will remember anything that happened today?"

"Technically, that is correct," Splice replied, shrugging.

"Good," MoB Hiccup said, smiling in relief. Then in one swift motion, he grabbed MoB Astrid by the arm, pulled her in, and kissed her full on the lips. The action was a surprise to everyone, even to MoB Hiccup himself. After a few seconds, he pulled away, leaving MoB Astrid stupefied.

"Hiccup..."

He didn't give her a chance to finish, mostly because he was worried about what she was going to say. He quickly turned back to the Legendary Pokémon. "Ready, guys!"

MoB Astrid threw up her hands in protest. "Wait, wait, WAIT!"

But she was too late. Drageist summoned a portal that completely enveloped the large group of heroes, and Splice charged it with his memory erasing powers. In a flash of bright light, the entire group was gone, having been transported back to their respective worlds. Only Team Go-Getters remained.

The only remaining Hiccup looked up at Drageist. "So, what now?"

The Giratina smiled as he lay a tendril on the young hero's shoulder.

"Let's get you all home."

* * *

Later, in Ultra Megalopolis, Adhesive watched as the Ultra Guardians began construction on the Megalo Tower. Kuro was also watching, but in a more supervising way. The two Pokémon were floating side-by-side as they examined the reconstruction of their main building.

"You did well today, Adhesive," said the Necrozma.

Adhesive looked surprised. "How do you know?"

"Drageist told me," Kuro said simply. He turned so that he was fully facing Adhesive. "And in light of your recent acts of bravery and heroism, I am hereby promoting you to official Ultra Guardian."

Instantly, Adhesive's eyes went wide with surprise. He looked up at Kuro. "You're serious?"

His response came in the form of a nod from the Necrozma. Adhesive very nearly started celebrating his new accomplishment when he suddenly remembered Team Go-Getters. If it hadn't been for them, he wouldn't have received that promotion in the first place. He was really going to miss going on adventures with them while he was with the Ultra Guardians in Ultra Megalopolis.

His decision made, Adhesive smiled at Kuro. "Thanks, but I think I'd like to stick with Team Go-Getters for now. I wouldn't really be here without them."

"I understand," Kuro said, nodding. "You may join them, if that's what you wish. Just know that the Ultra Guardians will always be here whenever you wish to return."

Adhesive almost couldn't contain his excitement anymore. "Alright! Woo-hoo!" Realizing how it must have looked, he quickly composed himself and added calmly, "Thanks again, Kuro."

With one final nod, the Necrozma left, leaving an exhilarated Adhesive free to throw up his arms in celebration.

"YES!"

* * *

It wasn't a surprise that Team Go-Getters ended up turning in early after everything they had been through after that day. But even while heading to the sleeping chambers of the Ice Caves, the adventure wasn't quite over yet.

"Did anyone else notice that Folnir was absent from the fight?" Snivels asked. Few members of the team were awake enough to realize that Snivels was right. The Yveltal had been nowhere to be seen during the final confrontation with the army of villains.

Perhaps it was a coincidence, but Folnir just happened to pass by just as Snivels was asking that question. "I apologize for that," the Legendary Pokémon said in every manner of sincerity. "But I was asked to help show a new recruit around the Ice Caves." He gestured behind him with his wing, where a Shiny female Yveltal was standing.

Hiccup was stunned at the sight of another Yveltal. He uttered an awkward, "Hi," hoping to himself that this Yveltal would greet him more kindly than Folnir did when they first met.

"Hello," the Shiny Yveltal greeted kindly. "My name is Morrigan. Folnir was just showing me around the Ice Caves, and we just finished touring the sleeping chambers. I hope we didn't disturb anyone."

Hiccup shifted nervously. "Actually, we were just heading for the chambers ourselves. I mean, it's really been a long day, and we could use some rest, so..."

"Before you do," Folnir politely interjected. "There's something you should know." He exchanged a look with Morrigan, who nodded in encouragement. "Fjord offered me a position here at the Ice Caves, and I've decided to accept it."

Snivels instantly realized the implications of that. "You'll be staying here?"

Folnir nodded. "I didn't want to tell any of you, but my initial plan was to travel the world until I found my proper place." He pointed a claw at Hiccup. "Then you came along and showed me that even when I've gone crazy with hunger, there are still friends who are more than willing to help me. I stood by you, not because I didn't have anywhere else to go, but because I knew you'd help show me the way." He tapped his claw on Hiccup's chest, where his heart was. "You, Hiccup. You pulled me out of the darkness. And for that, I owe you my life. It's truly been an honor to stand beside you."

Wow.

Hiccup didn't know what to say.

Astrid's hand on his shoulder reminded him that he wasn't the only one in the hallway. "You've impacted a lot of creatures, Hiccup."

"And inspired them, too," Snivels added.

Hiccup glanced at them both before shifting his gaze behind him to Toothless, Blaze, Heather, Ninjark, and all of the dragons and Pokémon that had earned their place on Team Go-Getters. "I couldn't have done it without any of you." He looked back at Snivels. "Especially you, Snivs. You were the first to stand beside me, no matter what was thrown our way." He knelt down so he was eye level with the Servine. "You are now, and always have been a great partner. And a great friend. I owe you for changing my life."

Speechless, the only thing Snivels could do to show his appreciation for that was rush in and hug his trainer wholeheartedly. Toothless quickly joined in, not wanting to be left out. Both Hiccup and Snivels laughed as the Night Fury enveloped them both in his wings. This led to a full group hug, with trainers, dragons and Pokémon all in a tangle of arms and wings. Folnir briefly joined them before he and Morrigan flew over the group to report back to Fjord.

No sooner had the pair of Yveltal left, a wormhole appeared and a certain Poipole came flying in and diving into the group hug.

Ninjark recognized him first. "Adhesive? What are you doing here?"

Every creature pulled out of the group hug and stared at the Poipole, who had a duffle bag slung over his shoulder.

"I got a weekend pass," Adhesive said. "For the rest of my life! Or until I get tired of it, whichever comes first."

Hiccup glanced around at all his friends. "Okay, what did I miss?"

Snivels had very nearly forgotten that Hiccup had yet to officially meet Adhesive. "It's kind of a long story."

"I'd love to hear it."

While most of the team was confused over the new voice, Snivels and Heather recognized it instantly.

It was Batwings's voice.

The Servine quickly turned around to find a teenaged boy, around Hiccup's age, with shoulder-length blonde hair and blue eyes, just like Batwings. Only this version was completely, undeniably human. No wings, no claws, and no draconic mannerisms. Hovering beside him was a pair of Pokémon that both looked like miniature nebulas.

"But maybe tomorrow," Batwings's counterpart admitted. "We're already late for Ra and Camazotz's training." He pointed to the two Nebula Pokémon that were hovering next to him. The trio then gently pushed past the team members, the boy's eyes briefly locking with Heather's, which caused her to blush lightly. The raven-haired girl stared after him as he left, uttering, "Who is he?"

"A cadet for the Resistance," Kickin' Hawk answered almost immediately. "Lost his parents in a boating accident, so Fjord took him in and just recently introduced those two Cosmog as his partners. Brandyn Aetherson, I think, is his name."

Anything that was said after that was lost to Hiccup as he suddenly found himself in what a witness could describe as a simple hug, but to him was more of a death grip, courtesy of Astrid. Hesitantly returning her affection, he asked, "Are you okay?"

"I almost lost you again," was his wife's reply, her tone heavy with what Hiccup could have sworn was _sorrow_ and _fear_. She was right, she'd almost lost him once before, in the explosion that had killed the Red Death. Had Toothless not been able to get to him in time...she didn't want to think about that.

"But you didn't," Hiccup said, reassuringly. "Astrid, it takes a lot of bravery to put your life on the line for those you love. I learned that with the Red Death. Besides, I want to start this marriage right. Dying on my first official day of being a husband wouldn't be a very good beginning, would it?"

She punched him in the shoulder, but it didn't hurt too much.

"Just promise you won't do it again."

That wouldn't be an easy promise for Hiccup to keep, considering the fact that they had no idea what lay ahead. So he said the next best thing. "I'll try. For you, my lady."

She pulled away, not completely, just enough to look him in the eye. Blue met green. Sapphire met emerald. The sky met the forest.

Just like that, the couple was completely oblivious to their surroundings. They were only aware of each other.

Two voices whispered two sets of small, albeit meaningful, words.

"I love you, Astrid."

"I love you, too, Hiccup."

Then came the kiss. It was passionate, but not as much as the one they shared at their wedding the previous day. It was just as meaningful, though, as every ounce of anxiety and concern faded away into nothingness. In that moment, it was just the two of them. Hiccup and Astrid. Astrid and Hiccup.

Until Snivels cleared his throat.

Only then did the couple pull apart at the realization that they had an audience. And a very large one, at that.

But what more could you expect from your family?

Positively high with giddiness and affection, Hiccup and Astrid led the group to the sleeping chambers, hand in hand.

* * *

Anyone would think things in the Monsters of Berk timeline would be completely back to normal, with the riders retaining no memory of the multidimensional war.

But you couldn't be more wrong.

While spending a majority of the day trying to figure out the meaning behind what Hiccup thought was a very bizarre dream, he witnessed a scuffle in the Great Hall involving a one-eyed, baby Rathalos swiping a half-eaten fish off of an irritable Viking's plate. Said Viking chased the "little thief," as he called it, around the hall for a good five minutes before the baby monster pushed his way out the large doors to freedom.

A headache pending from all the noise, Hiccup reached into Sightless's saddlebag for his canteen of water, then paused, his fingers coming across something thin and crisp. He pulled it out, looking at it in confusion. It was a piece of parchment, folded up neatly and a bit crinkled from being in the saddlebag. The leader of the Monster Riders unfolded it, revealing it to be a letter of some sorts. The handwriting was a bit scrawled, indicating that someone had written it in somewhat of a hurry, but it was readable.

 _You are the only one who can decide who you want to be. Don't let yourself get stuck in what your father expects of you. Search for what's true, and be yourself, no matter what comes your way._

 _And while you're at it, don't ever let yourself take what you have for granted. No creature is ever complete without the love and compassion of their friends and family._

 _Every Rathalos needs a Rathian. You're lucky to have found yours, King of the Skies. ;)_

 _-A well-wisher_

If he hadn't had his memory wiped, Hiccup would have realized the letter was from Snivels.

The same went for Arachne, who found a similar note that the Servine had sneakily slipped into her pocket.

 _What happened on Outcast Island was not your fault. Venomwing didn't die because of you, no matter what you think. Your heart was in the right place, even if it meant putting yourself in danger to save a man who didn't need to be rescued._

 _Don't be afraid to make new friends. It's not the same as replacing the old ones. You're only making room for more in your heart._

 _And don't you ever stop shipping Hiccstrid. Sooner or later, they're bound to realize their true feelings._

 _-Someone who knows_

* * *

Snivels sighed as he leaned back against Toothless. Not far away, Amber was doing the same with Ebony.

"I have to admit," the Charmeleon commented to her mate, "That was quite the adventure. Even thought I missed most of it, I still had some fun. So, what do you think we'll do tomorrow?"

Snivels shrugged. "Well, whatever it is, I'm sure we'll be living it out to the fullest. The world belongs to you, and you should never let a single day go to waste."

The two Pokémon happily dozed off after that.

* * *

The only beings who were not asleep, even though it had gotten to be quite late, were Fjord, Brandyn, and the two Cosmog.

"That was really them?" Brandyn asked.

Fjord nodded. "Yes. Team Go-Getters. Your future family. I trust you'll guide them well, especially when us Legendaries can't be there to do so."

Brandyn nodded, determination set in his eyes. "I will."

Ra and Camazotz gave out little tired cheers before Teleporting out of the room to find someplace to sleep.

"I know you will make us all proud," Fjord said. He smiled down at Brandyn before finishing his statement.

"Trainer of Destiny."

* * *

 **To be continued...**

* * *

 **Me: And so the door to the second season opens. I hope you all enjoyed Across the Distortion World!**

 **Snivels: I know I did.**

 **Adhesive: Can't wait to join the club!**

 **Blaze: Just try not to be too eager.**

 **Ninjark: She's right. Being a hero isn't all fun and games.**

 **Adhesive: Don't you think I already know that? I'm not a child, you know.**

 **Snivels: No offense, but there are some times where you act like one.**

 **Me: Welcome to my world. Anyway, reviews are appreciated.**


End file.
